Naruto: Shattered
by Shintaro Kozu
Summary: We all know Naruto as an overly happy, obnoxious dobe, but what if, due to the village's harsh treatment, he turns into something... Darker...? NarutoHarem Femsasuke DarkNaruto... Image of Naruto as story image.
1. Shattered by Hate

**Chapter One: Shattered By Hate**

"_Take this you piece of shit!_"_ there was a sharp pain in the small boy's side as a grown man kicked him._

"_She died because of you!_"_ another adult yelled drunkenly as he swung his near empty clay sake bottle down on the child, shattering as it hit the balled up child on the ground._

"_My son gave his life to make sure you died and yet here you are still breathing!_" _a third hate-filled villager from the Village Hidden in the Leaves kicked the boy. The blond boy closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face in agony._

"_**Why don't you kill them?"**_

_The voice was but a whisper in the boy's ear, barely audible but he could hear it. It was there every time he'd been cornered like this, asking why he didn't retaliate or fight back. If he were to be honest with himself he would if he could. These beatings were common and were close to becoming a daily ritual._

"_I'm surprised he hasn't killed himself yet. No one in this entire village gives two shits about you. No one will ever love you," one of the many men gathered to take their frustrations out on him spat._

_Kill himself? He'd tried that a few times before. It never worked. The boy tried jumping from the highest cliff in the village only to wake up in the hospital a few days later. He tried cutting himself but his wounds always healed. He even attempted eating rat poison only to have a severe case of diarrhea for a few hours._

"_**They fear you. They fear your power."**_

_Power? He didn't have any power. If he did, wouldn't he know about it? Wouldn't the old man have told him if he had power?_

"_**You've been lied to. You have the greatest power at your fingertips."**_

_He'd been lied to?_

"_**Yes. Now release me! And I'll give you the power to get revenge!"**_

_Revenge? Did he want revenge? The boy thought about how difficult it was to get food. How old man Hokage would force tailors and grocers to give him clothing and necessities. All the stares and beatings. The name-calling and snide remarks. Were those things that one sought revenge for?_

"_**They are. Humans always seek revenge. I can give it to you. But you have to release me."**_

_How was he supposed to release a voice in his head? Maybe he was as crazy as the villagers said._

"_**Open your eyes and you will see how to release me!"**_

_The voice sounded urgent. Excited even. The child opened his eyes and winced as he slowly stood from his balled up position. Instead of finding himself surrounded by __angry, drunk __villagers, he was in some kind of sewer before a massive gate and two of the most evil eyes he'd ever seen._

_A red aura seeped from underneath the gate and pooled around the boys feet. It began to encase the lower half of his body before forcing him up to the talisman keeping the giant gates sealed._

"_**REMOVE IT!"**_

_The voice barked angrily at the small boy for not immediately removing the seal._

_The boy just stared at it. He looked at the giant eyes floating in the sea of darkness for a moment before he reached for a corner of the talisman and began to tear it._

"_**Foolish human."**_

0o0o0o0

Uzumaki Naruto gasped as his eyes flew open. He looked over at his clock and saw that it read 7:30. "Damn it. I'm going to be late," He spoke in an irritated tone and threw his covers to the side causing the sleeping black fox at the foot of his bed to yip at him. "Not today Kit, I'm late."

Naruto threw his orange jumpsuit on as fast as he could and grabbed a few pieces of bread as he rushed out the door, leaving the fox to look after his apartment.

As he ran through the waking village toward the Ninja Academy, Naruto ignored all the comments thrown his direction. He learned how to block them out long ago, as they were always the same remarks.

Ever since he could remember, the villagers had always disliked him. It didn't matter what he was doing, everyone had a special glare reserved just for him. The beatings didn't start until he was older. To protect him from any possible harm that the orphanage workers might give Naruto, the Hokage moved him into an apartment.

Naruto continued to run toward the Academy. Today was the worst day for him to be late. The Genin graduation exams were today and his entire career as a ninja rode on those test results. Everything rode on those test results. He pulled his wrist in front of him and checked his watch. He had exactly 5 minutes to get there before he would be barred from even taking the exam.

Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled as he pushed himself to run even faster.

The academy came into view and the young Ninja hopeful put the last bit of his strength into reaching the classroom. He ran through the hallways pushing teachers and students out of his way, not even bothering to apologize. He finally reached his class and threw the door open startling the twenty-six other Genin hopefuls and the two teachers.

"Well Naruto, it's nice to see you join us. I hope you actually have a legitimate excuse today or did the Hokage Monument decide to paint itself on its own again?" Umino Iruka, Chunin Academy Instructor, asked annoyed at Naruto's tardiness. The entire class laughed at his past excuse to get out of trouble from vandalizing the monument. "Take your seat and we can begin passing out the written portion of the exams."

Naruto didn't reply as he took a moment to catch his breath before moving to the empty seat in the back.

The test was passed around and their time limit given before they were allowed to begin. An hour and thirty minutes later of intense test taking, the Genin-to-be were given 30 minutes before their practical exam would begin.

As the students got up to get food from the cafeteria or utilize the restroom, Inuzuka Kiba stopped by Naruto's desk. "I don't know why you bothered showing up, loser. There's no way in hell that you're going to pass."

Naruto looked lazily up at the Inuzuka heir and slightly snorted. Kiba had average grades and average abilities. His clan, the Inuzuka, was renowned for utilizing Nin-dogs for tracking missions and rumors spoke of how the Inuzuka could partially transform into dogs to heighten their senses. Naruto had once sought to make the boy his friend but that was long ago.

"Whatever." The Blond ninja-hopeful stood up and headed for the door without so much as another glance at the Inuzuka.

Kiba's eye twitched at Naruto's dismissal. "Hey! I'm not done talking to you, Uzumaki! I don't even know what you're doing trying to become a Ninja! It's not like anyone would even give you a mission let alone want to be on the same team as you. You're a dead-last that would just get your team killed on the first mission."

Naruto had stopped half way through the door. All of the remaining students stared at the blond to see what he would do hoping for a fight to break out.

"Tch," Naruto's grip on the door had tightened considerably as he made his mind up and left the class.

"I knew you were too chicken to face me," Kiba yelled as Naruto stalked out.

"You're pathetic Kiba," Kiba quickly turned around to berate whoever was stupid enough to call him pathetic. He came face to face with the black abysses that were Uchiha Sasuke's eyes, his current crush and hopefully his future wife.

"Sa-Sasuke-chan," Kiba flushed as he swallowed his bark.

"You call Naruto a loser yet you yourself are barely passing. I wouldn't worry about Naruto graduating if I were you, loser," with that said, the dark haired beauty followed Naruto's lead and left to get some refreshments before the practical exam.

To say Kiba was devastated would have been an understatement. With the excitement over, the remaining students left to use what little time they had to get something to eat and use the restroom.

If she were to be honest with herself, Sasuke didn't care about Naruto in the least. He always kept to himself and glared at practically everything that moved. She didn't even know why she bothered to say anything to Kiba. The repulsive Inuzuka hadn't even bothered her yet today to go on a date.

The blond Uzumaki was an enigma that Sasuke couldn't figure out. Naruto almost always had a scowl on his face and constantly made lame excuses for showing up late to class. He turned in half-assed homework and barely passed all of the tests given to him. And yet… he could easily be ranked as the best at taijutsu, ninjutsu, and even weaponry out of their entire class.

Sasuke had stumbled upon the blond practicing once and was shocked at the accuracy of his kunai and shuriken throwing. He hadn't missed a target. And it wasn't just his accuracy but how embedded the weapons became in the wooden dummies. It was completely different from earlier that day when they had to do the same for a graded test. Naruto had only managed one hit and it was _far_ from making a deathblow. Sasuke had seen him practice only a few other times and was shocked at just how hard he pushed himself. It was clear he had a grasp on the three basic academy jutsu other than the Clone Jutsu.

However, Sasuke never questioned the blond as to why he was failing on purpose. If he wanted to be seen as weak that was his problem not hers. More or less, she took it as a personal challenge to do better than him. Sasuke refused to let anyone be better than her. Her clan name refused to let anyone be better than her. It didn't matter if he was hiding his capabilities or not.

0o0o0o0

Hyuuga Hinata glared at the back of Sasuke's head. It had been 40 minutes since the Genin had been called back in for the practical portion of the exam.

Each student had been called to another room one at a time as they were to be tested individually. Hinata had yet to be called in and had spent this time to glare at Sasuke.

She had so badly wanted to tell Kiba that he was wrong about Naruto. Then Sasuke beat her to it. Of course, Hinata was having trouble getting out anything resembling words to begin with but she still wanted to be the one to stand up for Naruto.

Hinata and Sasuke weren't exactly friends. They were polar opposites of each other. Where Sasuke was assertive and sure of herself, Hinata was meek and shy. They only hung out with one another because they were both friends with Ino and Sakura since all of them were very young. Their mothers were childhood friends as well.

Their classmates had nicknamed them the Princess Four. For Sasuke and Hinata it was clear as to why as they came from two of the largest clans in the village. Ino and Sakura had been included purely for looks since Ino came from a minor ninja family and Sakura came from a family full of civilian merchants.

They were often asked out by various boys who had actually managed to gather the courage but were always turned down. Hinata felt bad for them but was grateful that Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke knew that she had her eyes on a certain blond and answered for her. Of course she always felt bad for those pining after Sasuke who never even let them finish properly asking her out before she would either walk away or just tell them to beat it.

Sasuke wasn't very social despite being popular. Sasuke had never really cared what others thought of her, especially after her family had been killed. The girl focused almost solely on being the best in the class and training. Hinata knew she shouldn't be upset that Sasuke had put Kiba in his place, but the violet haired girl just couldn't help feeling like Sasuke was stepping in territory she didn't belong.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka had come back from the latest test and called the next student to be tested.

Hinata shot her light gray eyes toward the object of her obsession and watched as he stalked out of the classroom.

Hinata had always admired the blond haired boy. No one in the village seemed to like him and for no apparent reason either. She had seen him many times in the town square as people cursed at him and even threw rotten food or rocks at him all the while he did his best to ignore it as he made his way to wherever it was he was going. He trained every day after class and spent a lot of time at the library when he didn't understand a subject that Iruka-sensei had been teaching. He even chose to walk away from fights, knowing that others would make fun of him for being a coward. Hinata could see the strength it took for him to just get up every morning and wished she had the strength he possessed to keep going.

Hinata came from the Hyuuga clan, one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha, and that name came with a heavy burden. Hinata's father was the Head of the clan and when she was old enough she would gain that title. Her father constantly pushed her to make top marks and expected nothing less than perfection. Perfection she just couldn't achieve. She could never get new jutsu down on the first try and if she were honest with her father she would tell him that she didn't want to be a Ninja.

She was nothing like her younger sister who was everything her father wanted her to be.

Sometimes Hinata felt as if her father despised her and she couldn't help despising him back.

"Hyuuga Hinata," Hinata's head snapped up as Iruka called her name. She quickly got up and followed Iruka into the next room for her test, silently hoping that Naruto had managed to pass.

0o0o0o0

"Iruka, Naruto is more than qualified to pass," the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, said as he surveyed the celebrating Academy students who had managed to pass and become Genin. All of the celebrating students, along with the Hokage and Iruka, were standing in front of the Academy. It was a joyous occasion for everyone but Naruto.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama but I just don't feel right in letting him become a Ninja. None of his work even began to match the others and his grades have been pitiful since he started here. And not to mention there's _that_ to consider as well. He's more than likely to kill his team just as much as an enemy if he were to lose control. He's too dangerous to become a Ninja," Iruka spoke sharply as he referenced the secret surrounding his blond student.

The aging Hokage sighed. Iruka wasn't the only one with such sentiments and he was beginning to fear of the damage such feelings were doing to Naruto. "Iruka, you need to remember that Naruto is a boy as well and above all else a human. Yes, he does have _that,_ but it doesn't remove his emotions. All his life he has felt hatred and a bias that has deprived him of some of life's most basic needs. I can only imagine the hatred he has for this village for how it has treated him over the course of his life. A hatred that _it_ would be more than happy to use to control him."

Iruka stood still as he thought over what the Hokage had told him. Could that _thing_ really use Naruto's hatred to use him to escape? Whenever Iruka had looked at the 12 year old he had always seen that monster and his parent's crushed bodies. "He has always hated this village Hokage-sama. He holds no respect for anyone; he gets into fights and causes trouble whenever he can. For all we know he was a bad seed to begin with," Iruka spotted Naruto sitting on a swing beneath a tree, the shade masking his features making it difficult to read the boy.

"Perhaps, but you must consider that Naruto has never known love nor the comfort of a mother's hug or the pride from a father's acceptance. You understand his loss of parents but what you fail to understand is his frustration at never being accepted and the pain that comes with it. He may not hold respect, get into fights, and cause trouble but its only because he wants attention and doesn't know how else to get it when no one will even accept that he is his own being and not _that_. The Yondiame wanted him to be seen as a hero, Iruka. Not a monster." With his peace said, the Hokage left the young Chunin to his thoughts.

Iruka simply stared over at Naruto who had gotten up and began to leave the Academy grounds. He could see the obvious disappointment hanging around him. When Naruto had come in to take his practical exam, the boy had surprised him and Mizuki. His spar test had gone flawless, rivaling if not outdoing Uchiha Sasuke. His transformation and replacement jutsu had been perfect unlike every other time he'd performed in class. And his written exam was a perfect 100. Only two others had managed to score as high as he had: the Haruno girl and Sasuke. His genjutsu was something to be desired but not everyone was good with those techniques. He had managed to cast a light one causing enough differences that he had managed to sneak up on the proctor and mock kill him. He even managed to break out of the genjutsu placed on him faster than most, falling behind just four others in record speed of canceling the jutsu.

This turnaround in ability was too much for Iruka to handle. Nothing added up. Naruto had never managed to do any of the tasks given to him before or at best barely passed.

Naruto's downfall had come in the form of the clone jutsu. He had managed to produce two of them, but they were just so pathetic looking that Iruka had immediately declared he failed not even taking into account his scores of the other tests. He even ignored Mizuki who had tried to bring that point up. But how could he allow Naruto to pass and be happy when his parents were dead? Naruto had seemed so pleased at showing he was a capable Ninja and that happiness on his face had struck a dark place in Iruka's heart.

Iruka knew that tonight was going to be a long one and decided to put everything on hold as parents came up to thank him for his tutelage to their children.

0o0o0o0

Naruto punched the alleyway wall that he had ducked into. "Damn it!" It wasn't fair. He had done everything else correctly. It didn't matter what they asked him to do, he had done it perfectly. He answered every question right and they still failed him all because he couldn't make perfect clones. It's not like he would even use that stupid jutsu anyway. "I did everything else right. I'm better than nearly _everyone_ they passed but failed me because I can't do _one_ fucking jutsu!"

He punched the wall again and winced as pain shot through his now bleeding fist. "You shouldn't do that Naruto. I mean what if you broke your hand? You wouldn't be able to take the retest now would you?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he quickly fell into a fighting stance to see who had snuck up on him.

"Relax Naruto, it's me; Mizuki-sensei," The man stepped forward out of the shadows to reveal that he was indeed Naruto's sensei.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, not falling out of his stance.

"To give you another chance at graduating. A fair chance. Iruka-sensei was a bit hasty in failing you. I think the shock of how well you did got to him. All the proctors looked over your test results and we decided to give you a retest since nearly all of your results were near perfect," Mizuki smiled as a look of hope spread across Naruto's face.

"So what's the test?" Naruto asked as he fell out of stance but never let his guard go. Something wasn't right. He'd never heard of anyone being allowed to retest before.

"It's simple really. All you have to do is retrieve a scroll for me," Mizuki's smile had a hint of insanity in it.

0o0o0o0

Naruto smiled as he looked at the giant scroll lying next to him. Mizuki had told him that his retest would be to retrieve this scroll filled with jutsu and learn one of them before Mizuki met him later that night near the rundown shack in the woods.

That had been 5 hours ago and Naruto was happy to say that he had mastered the first jutsu, the Shadow Clone Jutsu. But something was off about this test. Why did they put the scroll in the Hokage Mansion and not the Academy if this was for a test? Naruto shrugged it off as he pulled out a blank scroll and a pen. There were some difficult and powerful jutsu in this scroll and he wasn't going to just learn one, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two pops of smoke billowed up next to him and two exact copies of himself stood waiting for orders. "I need you two to copy as many of the jutsu in the scroll as you can before Mizuki sensei gets here. Got it?"

"Right boss!" the two clones saluted him and got to work while the real Naruto went to go rest next to the shack that he was supposed to meet Mizuki at.

"Naruto!" Naruto sat up to find Iruka standing over him. Naruto wasn't sure how long it'd been since his clones had finished copying as much of the scroll as they could, but was generally surprised to see Iruka rather than Mizuki.

"I thought Mizuki was supposed to come and get me," Naruto said as a confused look came across Iruka's face.

"Mizuki? What are you talking about? There's no getting out of trouble this time, Naruto!" Iruka scowled as he took in Naruto's appearance. He could tell that the boy had been training. "Have you been training out of the scroll this whole time?" It was a stupid question but he needed to ask.

"Considering I had too to pass the test, yes I have been," Naruto said as he stood up. "So… do I pass?"

"Pass?" Iruka asked, "What do you mean do you pass?"

"Mizuki-sensei gave me a retest didn't he? He told me if I managed to get this scroll from the Hokage Mansion and learned one of the jutsu inside I'd pass the graduation test," Naruto knew something was weird with Mizuki's test. Iruka's eyes widened at this revelation.

"Naruto there is no retest. The scroll you took is full of forbidden jutsu. Everyone in the village is looking for you thinking you've run off to another village to give them our secrets," Naruto ground his teeth as Iruka told him the truth. He'd been lied to. Again. He knew he shouldn't have trusted that snake in the grass.

"Seems like I've been found out. Oh well," Both Iruka and Naruto turned around to see Mizuki standing on a branch of an old, marred tree. A large shuriken was twirling in Mizuki's hands as he spoke. "Guess I have to kill you as well, Iruka."

Understanding his words, Iruka jumped in front of Naruto as the oversized weapon of death embedded itself into his back. Naruto had fallen at the sight of the weapon coming toward him, still recovering from the fact he'd been betrayed and stared at Iruka who had protected him. "Why? Why did you protect me?"

"B-because… you're my student. Sure… you get into fights and… you don't show anyone the proper respect but… it's because you're lonely. I was like you. My parents died and I was left all alone. I didn't know how to get the proper attention and became the class clown. No one… should feel like that. Not even you. I should've been a better Sensei toward you. I… let my own feelings determine what you are and not… who you are. I'm sor-sorry Naruto," Iruka allowed his tears to fall freely.

Mizuki laughed loudly at Iruka's apology. "Don't be fooled Naruto. Iruka isn't sorry. The only reason he got in the way is so he can kill you himself. In reality, he despises you just like the rest of the village. He hates you with all of his heart. After all… you killed his parents," Mizuki smirked at the boy's confusion.

"Mizuki don't! You can't tell him, it's forbidden!" Iruka yelled at the man who he thought was his friend.

"Tell me! Everyone always treats me like a monster and never tells me why! I'm so sick of not knowing. All my life I've been told I killed a bunch of people but I don't remember killing anyone! What did I do to make everyone hate me?" Naruto was not going to let this opportunity pass him by.

"Mizuki we can't tell him!" Iruka yelled desperately. Naruto and no one his age was supposed to know the truth.

**"**If you're worried about the death penalty, don't be. I'm going to kill you in a minute anyway." Mizuki said to Iruka. He then turned to Naruto. "I'll tell you, Naruto, as long as you give me the scroll." He continued telling the tale, hearing no reply from the young nin.

"It happened the day you were born, the day the Nine-tailed Fox attacked our village! The Yondiame was the only one with the ability to stop it. He sealed the Kyuubi away into a newborn child and saved the village at the cost of his own life. Guess who that child was!" Mizuki laughed at the shocked expression on Naruto's face.

'_I… I have the Kyuubi sealed in me? I'm the Kyuubi?_' All the taunts, snide remarks and names thrown at him now made sense. "Why me? Why did the Yondaime choose me?!" Naruto yelled as anger filled him. It wasn't fair. Why was he chosen to have the Kyuubi sealed inside of, why not someone else?

"It doesn't matter why the Yondaime chose you! You are the Kyuubi and no one will ever see you as anything else. You killed Iruka's parents and the loved ones of everyone in the village. No one will ever accept you. Now give me the scroll and I might let you live long enough to get your revenge!" Mizuki laughed maniacally as he thought of Naruto turning into the Kyuubi and destroying the pathetic village.

Naruto stood up slowly. "Iruka-sensei," Naruto spoke sharply, "If I can beat Mizuki-sensei, can I become a Genin?"

"I'll see what I… can do," Iruka had managed to remove the shuriken from his back and fell onto the grass. Iruka had been lucky that the shuriken hadn't hit his spinal column.

"How pathetic, Iruka! And you call yourself a Chunin!" Mizuki snorted at his fellow instructor before turning to face the bond. "So you think you can take me on huh? Well let's see what you can do, Kyuubi!" Mizuki unlatched the secondary shuriken that he had brought with him and threw it at the blond.

Naruto dodged the spinning weapon. He quickly grabbed the scroll and took off into the surrounding forest. "Don't run away Kyuubi!" Mizuki took off after Naruto.

It only took a minute for Mizuki to catch up with Naruto who had stopped in another clearing holding the scroll up against his leg with his eyes closed, "So you decided to face death head on you fucking fox?"

"I'm not going to die. You are," Naruto stated calmly.

"Don't fool yourself Kyuubi! You can't beat me. You can't even do a simple clone jutsu right! Your test results were just a fluke. It's obvious you cheated. So quit the tough guy act and hand over the scroll to me!" Mizuki spat at Naruto's face.

"You should be careful what you wish for Sensei… you just might get it!" Naruto swung his leg around and launched the scroll toward the traitor.

Caught by surprise, Mizuki jumped to catch his prize. Once the scroll was in his arms, he felt a sharp pain explode in his forearms and thighs and fell to the ground in agony. "AHH! You fucking piece of shit!" Mizuki lifted his arms to see a kunai sticking out of both of his limbs and several shuriken lodged in his legs. He looked back to Naruto and was shocked to see that the boy's once brilliant blue-eyes were replaced with slitted, red ones. "I knew you were really the fox."

"You're just like everyone else. You only see me as the fox and not the human I really am. You're afraid of a power I never even knew I had. I want to thank you Sensei… for helping me make up my mind," Naruto spoke darkly and barked each word.

"I knew you would destroy the village. You should've been killed the day you were born! The only thing I don't understand is why get in my way? I hate this village just as much as you do. It's full of fools like Iruka. I could help you level the village to the ground!" Mizuki couldn't look away from the blood-red eyes of the demon in front of him.

"I'm not going to destroy the village," Mizuki gave Naruto a confused look. "I'm going to decimate it, and I don't need your help. I'm the Kyuubi after all, right? Hahahahaha, no I'm going to protect Konoha and kill all of her enemies."

"What? Why would you protect the village that hates you so much?" nothing was adding up for Mizuki.

"Why? So that I'm the only one that can obliterate it."

Mizuki was stunned. The village was right. He really was the Kyuubi. This boy in front of him was not human. He was a monster biding its time, waiting for just the right moment to strike.

"I can't let you live! You're truly a monster that I can't ignore. I will be seen as a hero for killing you," Mizuki ignored the pain in his limbs and launched forward, pulling a kunai out from one of his supply pouches and stuck it deep within the Kyuubi's gut.

A few moments passed before the boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke that dissipated quickly_. 'What? Replacement Jutsu? No there would be something else in his place. I know I stabbed him! Then… Clone Jutsu? That can't be it I felt him!'_

"Where did you go you little fuck?!" Mizuki looked around the clearing but saw nothing other than the Forbidden Scroll. "You coward, show yourself you damn Fox!"

"Maybe you should go back to the Academy Mizuki-sensei. Your genjutsu sensing skills need some work," Mizuki froze at the whispering in his ear and the sharp edge of a kunai blade at his neck.

Naruto was towering above him, his demonic eyes piercing through his very soul. "And you shouldn't underestimate an opponent, Demon," Mizuki launched his head backward hitting Naruto's gut causing the boy to stumble backwards. Going with his momentum Mizuki back flipped onto his feet and rushed at Naruto with a kunai ready to stab him this time.

Naruto blocked the attack easily and countered aiming for Mizuki's left lung. Mizuki caught Naruto's arm and moved to cut the boys appendage off.

Naruto jumped and spun his body around causing Mizuki to lose his grip and miss his mark. Once on the ground, Naruto kicked one of the protruding shuriken from the Chunin's leg and pushed it in deeper causing Mizuki to fall to the ground in pain. Mizuki pushed the pain out of his mind, rolled away from the Academy student, and shakily stood up. "You fucking piece of shit. You really were holding out in the Academy, weren't you? Well I'm sorry to say but this is where we finish this and you die. Then I'm going to go back for Iruka and finish him off as well. Anyone that sympathizes with you deserves to die."

"I'm not going to die," Mizuki felt a sudden pain shoot through his back only for his head to be pulled back and a kunai slice through his neck, "You are." Naruto was standing behind him holding his hair tightly in his fist and his kunai dripping with the Chunin's blood.

"H-how?" Mizuki gurgled as his life began to slip away.

"I did as you instructed and learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu from the scroll," Mizuki looked toward the scroll and saw that it was no longer there.

"You… you were the… scroll," the last sight Mizuki saw was the Kyuubi's eyes burning itself into his mind.

0o0o0o0

Iruka woke up to a white ceiling staring down at him. '_Am I… still alive?_' A faint beeping sliced through the silence, and a sterile smell filled his nostrils.

He was in a hospital? How? He was sure that he was going to die in that forest. Who had found him?

"We found Naruto dragging both you and the Forbidden scroll back into the village. He revealed that Mizuki had tricked him into stealing it and would've succeeded in getting away if you hadn't found him," Iruka looked to his left and saw the Sandaime smoking his pipe.

"N-Naruto… managed to beat Mizuki?" Iruka asked and smiled at the old Hokage's nod, "I… I want to resend my decision on failing Naruto. He…" Iruka began to cough up blood.

"Don't push yourself Iruka. You're lucky that Mizuki missed your spinal column or you'd be out of a job now. And I've already approved Naruto for passing his exams. He more than proved he's a capable Ninja," the Hokage took a long drag of his pipe before slowly exhaling the smoke. "Naruto killed Mizuki."

Iruka looked at the Hokage with shock. Naruto… had killed a Chunin. Sure, Mizuki had betrayed the village but did he really deserve death?

"Mizuki revealed an S-class secret Iruka. He sealed his fate the moment he told Naruto the truth surrounding his birth. If Naruto hadn't killed him, he would've been killed later anyway," Hiruzen sighed as he thought of the loss of a Chunin. "Rest for now Iruka. The team formations have been pushed back a couple of days so that we can investigate what would motivate Mizuki to betray us."

With nothing else to be said, Hiruzen left Iruka to his thoughts.

0o0o0o0

Naruto huffed in exhaustion. He couldn't sleep and had decided to tire himself out by doing push-ups until he couldn't move anymore. His words to Mizuki kept replaying in his head. Did he really mean it? Would he really hunt down all of Konoha's enemies so that he would be the only one left to destroy it? But his words weren't the only thing bugging him. During his fight, Naruto had felt his senses heighten to a level he'd never known before. Mizuki's movements had almost seemed too slow for a Chunin and he could almost predict what the traitor was going to do next. Had he tapped into the Fox's power? "Fuck. This is all too confusing."

Naruto pushed himself up and flopped down on his bed waking up Kit, who yipped at him for disturbing its rest. "Shut up Kit."

The fox growled at him before it curled up next to him. Naruto lazily began to pet his only friend lightly. Raising his other hand, Naruto reached for his forehead and removed the black clothed headband that the Hokage had given him and smiled.

He had done it. He was finally a Ninja.

Naruto, finally feeling sleep claim him, let his body go limp and let his heavy eyelids close. The last thing he heard was only but a whisper in his ear.

**"You finally have the power to seek revenge. I can't wait to see this village burn."**

0000000

**A/N Note: A rewrite of Naruto:Shattered. This was done by me, and my co-author The Revolutionary Ronin. This is a much darker version. I hope you enjoy. FemSasuke and a harem, tell me what you think? I think this will most likely be a better version of my fic.**

**P.S: I don't own Naruto.**

**Beta-ed by Spookie Kitten.**


	2. Shattered by Introductions

**Chapter Two: Shattered By Introductions**

"_Fucking fox!" 5-year old Uzumaki Naruto looked up at the cursing and was shocked to see that for once the remark wasn't directed at him._

"_Scram you damn pest!" Naruto heard a sharp whining and a yelp of pain before a black blur ran past him, "Huh?" The shop owner had noticed Naruto and his scowl deepened, "Was it you that brought that fucking thing to my shop? No, it was you! Get out of here before you ruin my business!"_

_Naruto quickly made himself scarce. Tearing down the street before ducking into an alleyway hoping no one had seen him. Before he could sigh in relief when no one came into the alley a loud growling caused him to turn around._

_Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of a black fox, blood seeping from its front right leg, sharp teeth made for tearing into flesh barred at him._

_Getting over his initial shock Naruto slowly approached the wounded creature, "You're that fox that guy was yelling at right?" Naruto asked._

_The little fox just growled deeper as Naruto got closer to it._

"_Are you alone too? I'm alone a lot and… nobody seems to like me. I don't think anybody likes you either. I don't want to be alone anymore," Naruto finally reached the fox and stuck his hand out to reach for the frightened animal and felt a stinging sensation as the fox bit into his hand._

_Naruto flinched but didn't remove his hand. He was tired of always being alone. Tired of being hated for something he didn't even know about. Naruto reached his other arm around the fox and picked it up into his embrace and just held it. Slowly tears fell down his young face as the fox held strongly onto his hand with its jaws._

"_I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to be alone anymore!" his tears continued to fall the pain in his hand not going away. _

_Suddenly he felt a sticky object rubbing his wound and saw that the fox was licking at his blood, as if to clean it._

_Naruto let a sad smile cross his face before standing up, "Come on Kit, lets find somewhere warm to sleep tonight."_

0o0o0o0

Uchiha Sasuke woke with a frown on her face.

Today was supposed to be exciting and filled with pride from her family as she went off to receive her Team assignment for the first time in her Ninja career. Instead of waking up to the wonderful smell of her mother's cooking or the sound of water pipes humming as her brother or father showered she was met with dead silence.

A silence she had known for almost 6 years.

Sasuke sighed as she rolled onto her side to look at her nightstand where a picture of her family stared looking back at her with smiles. A scowl quickly formed on her face as she slammed the picture down unable to look at _him_.

Looking at her clock Sasuke rose from bed and went about her morning rituals before she met up with her only friends: Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata before all four of them went to the Academy one final time.

The girl moved around her small apartment, making sure that everything was in order. She had lived in the apartment since she was 6 and a half and made sure that it was kept neat and clean, having picked up her mother's cleaning habits before _that _happened.

Sasuke made her way into the kitchen and pulled two eggs and one tomato from her fridge before she set about cooking her breakfast. She scrambled the eggs and cut the tomato into six even pieces. She salted the tomato piece and poured herself some orange juice before enjoying her cooking.

She went to her bedroom and pulled out a dark blue shirt with a high collar and her clan's symbol embroidered on the back. Next was a pair of white shorts and white arm cuffs that had blue straps. She slipped out of her sleep wear of black shorts and a black tank-top and pulled her fresh clothes on.

She quickly wrapped her ankle and lower legs with her medical tape before slipping on her ninja sandals and rushed out the door. 10 minutes later had Sasuke in front of the Yamanaka Flower shop and waited for Ino to come out so they could meet up with Hinata and Sakura.

Ino lived along Sasuke's route to the Academy while Hinata lived along Sakura's. They met up in the middle just outside Ichiraku ramen shop.

"Oh! Sasuke-chan how have you been?" Ino's mother had come out to put some new flowers on display in front of the shop, "I swear you look more and more like Mikoto-san each time I see you. Are you excited to have finally graduated from the Academy?"

Sasuke looked at the brunette darkly for a moment when the older woman mentioned her mother. Ino's, Hinata's and Sakura's mothers had all been child-hood friends with her own mother when they were children and had often setup play dates for their daughters.

That was why Sasuke was friends with the three girls; they had always just been there. A constant in her life that she couldn't bring herself to get rid of. Many times Sasuke had thought of going another way to the Academy or to stop acknowledging them but she didn't. They were all she had of her old life. They were her escape from her reality that she faced every time she entered that empty apartment. A way to forget what _he_ had done.

Sakura's and Ino's family had offered to take her in when she became alone but Sasuke refused. Sakura's family only saw her as a way to rise in position and gain some leeway in Ninja dealings, even if Sakura's mother really did care for her. And Ino's family was… just that. A family. Sasuke didn't know if she could ever go back to having a family. It almost seemed like she was spitting on the graves of all those she had lost that night if she simply joined another family.

As for Hinata's family… her clan had always been at odds with the Hyuuga. For as long as she could remember the Hyuuga and Uchiha had always fought each other as the dominant and most powerful clan in the village. It would not only be awkward but Sasuke had never liked Hinata's father. The man reminded her of her own Father and all the pressures he had put on her. Staying the Hyuuga wouldn't work.

Before Sasuke could reply to Ino's mother, said girl came running out of the shop, "Sorry I'm late Sasuke, somebody didn't wake me up!" Ino sent a glare toward her mother.

"I would think that an aspiring young Kunoichi could get up on her own. Take Sasuke-chan for example she has never been late even once and arrives the same time every day," The elder Yamanaka put her hands on her hips and looked at Ino as only a mother could.

Ino looked pointedly at her friend, "But that's Sasuke! She's perfect at everything she does. Ugh, whatever come on Sasuke, I'm sure Hinata and Sakura are waiting for us," Ino grabbed the Uchiha by the hand and dragged the girl away.

Ino's mother simply chuckled to herself and went back to work.

0o0o0o0

Naruto took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

He'd been up since sunrise as he usually was each morning taking the time to meditate for an hour. It was a practice he'd picked up after he met a monk when he was 5. The monk had come to the village to request a mission and had stayed for a number of weeks where he taught Naruto the basics of meditation and the many uses and practicality that came from meditating.

Since then Naruto had kept meditating each morning before he would physically train. Push-ups, sit-ups, dips using one of his chairs, abdominal exercises, jumping jacks and practicing the various kata for the Academy martial-arts were all a part of his training regimen.

He did all of this before he set about making instant ramen for Kit and himself. He did have two eggs chilling in his faulty refrigerator but figured he'd save them for another day and his milk had gone bad two weeks ago. His allowance that the Hokage gave him wasn't much, usually just enough where if he transformed to look like someone else he could usually buy one or two quality food items and the cheap stuff to last him the next two weeks.

Much of what Naruto owned came from garbage piles or the Hokage had purchased the item for him like his furniture and appliances. Even clothing was a rare privilege to own. Naruto constantly had to wash the few clothes that he did own by hand. Overall his apartment was barren and a large empty spot of wooden floor that Naruto used to train.

Kit scratched at Naruto's leg in anticipation of finally being fed that morning. Naruto chuckled at the fox's impatience at the simple 3 minutes it took to prepare ramen, "It's almost ready just be patient."

He got a yip as a reply and Naruto smiled. The fox truly was the only being in the village that he cared for. They were two unwanted desirables and kept each other company. Naruto had been grateful at the fox's acceptance and always made sure that Kit was well taken care of even at his own expense at times. He'd even starved a few times in exchange for the fox being fed.

That's not to say that Naruto wasn't grateful to the Hokage and all the old man did for him or Iruka's apology but the little bit of kindness couldn't quell the rage that festered within him. Too much had happened for a simple apology from one man to erase. A dark look overcame Naruto's face as he remembered memories he'd rather forget at the moment.

Naruto poured half of the instant noodles in Kit's bowl and took a seat at his table and dug in, "Today should be interesting Kit. I'm being assigned to my Ninja team for the first time in my career. I wonder who I'll be paired with?"

Kit yipped up at him.

"You really think that I would be paired up with the Uchiha?" Naruto gave an incredulous look at his friend, "I would rather the Hyuuga than that stuck up bitch."

Kit yipped once more.

"I don't think she's cute stupid fox. She thinks she's better than everyone just because she's from a clan," Naruto couldn't believe Kit.

The fox gave an almost perverted sounding yip.

"I do not have a crush on her. I'm nothing like Kiba besides I don't want anything to do with anyone from this shitty village," Naruto replied in annoyance. Why was he being teased by a fox of all things?

Kit just looked at him.

"That's it I'm leaving," Naruto growled as he threw his empty cup away and threw Kit's bowl in the sink quickly washing it before filling it with water and leaving it on the ground where the fox could get to it.

Naruto went to his bathroom and turned on the sink before dousing his face with water. He smiled slightly as he thought of how Kit was like a brother to him. He'd always wondered what it would be like to have a family. To have a father to congratulate him on passing his Academy exams, a mother that always tried to make sure he'd eaten breakfast every morning and cleaned his room, or a sibling that pestered him about girls and if he had a crush on one and then tease him relentlessly.

Kit hadn't been entirely wrong when he said that he had hoped Uchiha Sasuke was on his team. Naruto had at one point did have a crush on the girl but never expected anything to ever happen between him and her. They were opposites in every way. She was the top of the class and he was the bottom. She was born into a wealthy family while he was dropped off at an orphanage at infancy. She had friends and he had no one but Kit. The village adored her every movement and despised him with a passion.

There was one outstanding fact that did connect the Uchiha heir and himself, there were both alone.

He didn't know the specifics but had heard that one man had killed her entire clan leaving her the sole survivor of Konoha's worse massacre to date. 75 people were all being processed and tagged for burial over the course of one night. These people were Sasuke's entire family and some of the most elite Ninja that Konoha had to offer and were ranked among the most deadly ninja in the world. Not only that but the Uchiha made up most of Konoha's police force and their clan's symbol had even been used to represent the police.

Sasuke had lost her family in just one night. She was just as alone as he was, coming back to an empty apartment every night wishing for something that was no longer there and perhaps was never there to begin with.

Naruto splashed his face one more time and returned to his room and threw on a pair of black pants and a black shirt with a tribal red flame in the middle of it. He then grabbed a black and red version of his orange jacket and zipped it up before heading out to the Academy.

0o0o0o0

"What the hell are you doing here Dead-Last?" Kiba asked as he walked in to the designated classroom that the graduating Academy students were to meet in for team assignments and their orientation.

Naruto simply pointed to his head band that he had put on upon arriving at the Academy before going back to looking off into space. He'd arrived 30 minutes early and had been the first to arrive. At about 15 minutes before the meeting other graduates began to trickle in and now with only 5 minutes left before the orientation nearly all of the graduates had arrived.

"I can see the head-band loser, I'm not blind. What I want to know is where you stole it from cause last I checked you failed your graduation exams!" Kiba was not going to get shown up this time. Sasuke had yet to arrive and like hell would he let Naruto even have the chance of being on her team.

Naruto looked back at Kiba with a bored expression, "I was given another test. Iruka-sensei failed me without taking into account my overall score. The Hokage _himself_ proctored for it. So if you really want to contest me being here then go bother him," Naruto really wasn't in the mood for Kiba's shit at the moment.

"Get real Dead-Last. I've never heard of a fucking retest and I doubt they would give one to you. It must have been simple for a retard to pass if you were able to pass," many of the students listening in sniggered and tried to contain their laughter.

"I had to kill a traitor to the village," Naruto's cold stare spoke volumes. Everyone had gone deafly silent.

"Y-yeah right," Kiba managed to say after getting over the look in Naruto's eyes. It was a look he had seen many times in his mother and sister after they had come back from high-ranked missions. It was the look of a person who had killed somebody, "Stop lying you idiot and get lost already."

"If he has a regulation head-band then he graduated. I highly doubt someone like Naruto would be able to steal one and get away with wearing one," Everyone's attention was turned to the last of the graduates to show up. Kiba had immediately clamped his mouth shut at Sasuke's voice.

The "Princess Four" had finally arrived and they looked annoyed with Kiba. Haruno Sakura, considered a pink-haired goddess among the boys, stepped forward and crossed her arms.

"Get a life Kiba. You barely were passing yourself. I heard that all of your test results credited you just enough points to pass. Meanwhile I overheard some of the Sensei talking about Naruto's scores and how he had the highest scores and would've received a perfect score had he not messed up the **clone** jutsu. He did better than even Sasuke," to hear Sakura, who had made it very clear over the last six years of being in the Academy that she dislike the blonde, say that had blown everyone's mind. Had Naruto really outdone the Rookie of the Year?

Sasuke looked over at the blonde with shock in her eyes, "_Naruto scored better than me? I know he's been holding back but…by just how much is the question? Not only that but he said that his retest was to kill a traitor. I heard rumors about Mizuki-sensei stealing an important scroll from the Hokage Mansion but did they really send a Dead-Last to take him out?_"

Sasuke was taken out of her musing as Ino and Sakura pushed Kiba out of the way and grabbed their usual seats in the middle of the class. Hinata eeped as she shyly made her way to the only two available seats left in the class, which was on either side of Naruto.

Sasuke sighed at Hinata's meekness. The girl had had a crush on the Blonde boy since probably before they all enrolled in the Academy and couldn't even make a sound around him. It was quite pathetic considering that they had known each other for six years and the Hyuuga heiress hadn't even managed a hello. And it didn't help that Naruto didn't even know the girl existed. Sasuke was honestly surprised that Hinata had even managed to sit next to him without fainting.

Sasuke pushed the thought out of her mind and began to move toward her seat seeing as Hinata more than likely needed moral support when Kiba once again decided he would ask her out.

"Uh… Sasuke-chan I was wondering if… after our orientation that you would like to-" Kiba was simply shoved aside by Sasuke.

Ino had looked back hearing the dog-boy and could only laugh, "Give it up Kiba. If Sasuke hasn't said yes to all of your other attempts she isn't going to say yes now!"

The other students laughed as Kiba tried to look cool while returning to his seat, grumbling to himself about stupid blondes.

Iruka finally stepped into the class with a slight limp and smiled seeing all of the new Genin already seated, "I would like to start off by saying how proud I am of each and every one of you for working so hard over the last six years."

As Iruka began his speech, Naruto looked over at the Uchiha heir sitting next to him and whispered quietly, "I don't need your or your friends' help."

He was gruff and sharp with his words, "Hn. We weren't helping you. We just can't stand listening to Kiba making himself sound important," Sasuke scowled at Naruto's ungratefulness.

"Sure," was her reply.

Sasuke took a moment to scan the blonde over and was surprised to not see a single piece of orange on his clothing. He had swapped his unbelievable bright orange and blue jacket for a black and red version and had black pants on that went into white wraps around his lower legs and ankles. He had also gone for a black cloth for his head-band like she had. She looked back at his face and could feel heat rising on her cheeks. There wasn't much baby fat surrounding his jaw line and the whisker like scars on his face made him look more mature than childish as it should have. When she had looked in his eyes she felt as if she was falling into an infinite ocean of pain and misery. Sasuke quickly looked away before the Dead-Last noticed her blush. The last thing she needed was to let the idiot think she had some sort of crush on him. Besides Hinata liked him and she could have him.

Hinata had heard the whispered conversation an quietly observed the exchange. Her heart sank at hearing Naruto say that he didn't want or appreciate their intervention with Kiba. Hinata adverted her eyes and looked at the desk in front of her. She had a major crush on the blonde boy next to her and didn't know how to even begin a conversation with him. It was pathetic she knew but she was scared of rejection from her idol. She looked back over at the two and… was that a blush on Sasuke's face? Sasuke was blushing? Why was Sasuke blushing? What reason did Sasuke have to blush? Sasuke suddenly was looking everywhere but Naruto's face. Sasuke was blushing because of Naruto? A ping of jealousy flared up in Hinata.

"I will now assign you all to your three man teams or cells as they are more commonly called among the more veteran Ninja. Please make sure to pay attention and listen for your name. I will count down from cell 10 which will consist of Hyuuga Hinata!" Iruka had pulled all attention back to him as he had finished his speech and woken up a few of the Genin at the mention of team assignments.

"Y-yes," Hinata managed to get out.

"Haruno Sakura!"

"Right," Sakura looked back at the Hyuuga girl and gave a reassuring smile to her friend. It didn't matter who else was put on the squad, Hinata would have at least one of her friends right beside her.

"And Yamanaka Ino!"

"Girl power!" Ino fist-pumped into the air before she high-fived Sakura and sent a peace sign to Hinata.

Ino's outburst had caused a fit of laughter to erupt among most of the Genin.

Naruto refrained from laughing and analyzed the newly formed cell.

Hyuuga Hinata was the hair to the Hyuuga clan which prized its precious kekkai-genkai or bloodline limit: the Byakugan. It was a powerful eye technique which allowed the user a full 360 degree field of vision and the capability of seeing through objects and even a person's chakra network. The Hyuuga were usually put on missions that consisted of espionage and tracking.

The girl was considered one of the "Princess Four," a name given to the four most beautiful and influential daughters in the village. All four of their mothers had been given the same name and was passed down to their daughters. It was rare to see any of the four princesses without the other three. Hinata, in Naruto's opinion, was the misfit in the group. She was extremely quiet and hardly ever spoke up in class unless directly spoken too by Iruka-sensei. Though he had nothing against her as she had never outright made fun of him or said anything bad. Of course who knew what she said in private.

Haruno Sakura came from a clan of merchants that had more pull in the civilian world than in the ninja world. Naruto was sure that the girl was a first-gen ninja and had heard rumors about her father being against her becoming one. Sakura how shown her book-smarts and near perfect chakra control in order to graduate and become a Genin. Other than getting perfect scores on written exams her test results were at the higher end of the standards. She would fit best as a strategist or even a medic-nin and was more than likely going to be groomed to be the leader of her cell.

Yamanaka Ino came from a long-line of Ninja and was damn proud of her heritage. The Yamanaka were known for their mind-controlling techniques and had either been used for interrogation or espionage able to control enemies to gather information for them.

Naruto was sure that the all-girl cell would be given espionage missions more than any other type of missions once they were ready.

"Cell 8 will consist of Inuzuka Kiba!" at the mention of Kiba's name Naruto turned his attention back to Iruka, hoping that he wouldn't be put on the same team as the mutt.

"Yahoo!" Kiba yelled loudly.

"Aburame Shino."

The silent boy simply adjusted his sunglasses.

"And Akamichi Chouji."

Chouji continued to eat his bag of potato chips.

Naruto mentally smiled at not having to put up with Kiba and quickly went over all he knew about the new cell.

Kiba came from the Inuzuka clan that specialized in tracking. They had a very close relationship to a pack of dogs that they bonded with from a young age and used to help them track. Many of their jutsu was based around utilizing the dog and increasing their senses.

Aburame Shino was the heir to the Aburame clan who used bugs that fed off of chakra. It was rumored that each member of the clan had an entire hive living inside of their bodies and it was very wise to never piss them off. They were normally paired with an Inuzuka as the Aburame were used for tacking as well.

Naruto had never talked to Shino and Shino had never talked to him. Shino was a hard one to read as he always had sunglasses on and black expression no matter what happened.

Akamichi Chouji was the heir to the Akamichi clan. The Akamichi were extremely powerful utilizing specialized jutsu that allowed them to expand their bodies to incredible lengths and sizes. Most members were on the bigger side of weight but the extra stores of fat helped with some of their more life-threatening jutsu.

Naruto and Chouji had once been friends but once his parents knew had forbidden Chouji from hanging out with him.

"Cell 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto," the entire class had turned toward the blonde and the remaining Genin to be placed prayed they wouldn't be in his cell.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto nearly lost it when he saw the girl's jaw-drop but managed to keep his composure.

"_I can't believe this! I'm stuck with the Idiot_," Sasuke was actually slightly glad at hearing she was in Naruto's cell, "_Maybe now I'll be able to see just how strong he really is_."

"_Great. I'm stuck with the Ice Princess_," Naruto rolled his eyes at the look Sasuke was giving him.

Sasuke was given the Rookie of the Year award as she had managed top marks all six years at the Academy and almost perfect scores in her final exams. The Uchiha excelled with fire jutsu and had used a fan as the symbol of their clan to symbolize their mastery over the element. What had truly made them renowned though was their kekkai-genkai: the Sharingan. The bloodline limit was an ocular technique that not only allowed the user to see attacks in slow-motion but also gave them the ability to copy everything they saw perfectly. Many had feared the name Uchiha from every corner of the world until their demise six years ago.

"And Nara Shikamaru," Naruto looked behind him to see the Nara looking bored beyond belief.

Shikamaru was another boy Naruto used to play with until his parents found out and kept the two from being friends. Shikamaru was from the Nara clan that had a specialization in manipulating shadows and were known for producing some of the most brilliant strategists the village had ever known. It was ironic that Shikamaru was completely lazy and found everything to be troublesome.

"That's bullshit! Why is the dead-last in Sasuke-chan's cell?" Kiba yelled thoroughly pissed that he wouldn't be on his crush's team, "He shouldn't even be here! I know for sure that no one has ever been given a retest before!"

Hinata had partially been crushed that she wasn't paired up with Naruto but glad that Sasuke was in his cell. Perhaps their two cells could have lunch together every once in a while? Although she still felt jealous about Sasuke being able to spend so much time with Naruto. Currently she was scowling at Kiba. Naruto worked hard and deserved to be here more than anyone.

"Kiba I'm really not in the mood for this. Naruto was failed before all of his scores were put together and when they finally were it was determined that a mistake was made. The Hokage decided he would test Naruto to see if his scores were a fluke and obviously they weren't. Now shut up and sit back down," Iruka still had six other cells to announce before they could break for lunch.

"Is it true that he had to kill a traitor?" Kiba asked wanting to call Naruto on his bluff.

Iruka sighed at Kiba's persistence. After a moment of contemplation Iruka answered, "Naruto's test was interrupted when Mizuki-sensei showed his true colors and stole an important scroll. Naruto had been ordered to go home and that his retest would be put on hold until the matter was resolved. On his way back Naruto encountered Mizuki who tried to kill Naruto to keep him from revealing where he was hiding. Naruto killed Mizuki in self-defense," Iruka paused to allow the Genin to swallow what was being told to them, "Naruto returned the scroll to the Hokage and after an investigation Naruto was rewarded with being allowed to become a Genin."

Kiba and the rest of the class stared at Naruto. The blonde really had killed someone in order to be sitting where he was. Iruka continued with the cell assignments after another minute.

0o0o0o0

"I don't get why you're not eating with your new teammates Sasuke," Ino said before she dug into one of the many rice balls the 4 Genin were sharing for lunch.

After they had been dismissed for a lunch break Sasuke met up with the newly formed cell 10 and hadn't even looked where the lazy Nara or Uzumaki had gone to eat. They had gone to their usual lunch spot: a couple of benches just outside the Academy.

"Shikamaru would just tell her it's too troublesome and Naruto is just weird," Sakura said shrugging, answering for Sasuke.

"Hn. I really don't care about either of them. As long as they don't get in my way I don't care who my teammates are. Though I would've preferred having at least one of you in my cell," Sasuke said coolly not giving either boy much thought.

Hinata looked like she wanted to say something but remained quiet.

A comfortable silence fell over them as they quietly only for it to be disturbed by the last group they wanted to deal with.

"Well if it isn't the "Princess Four?" So how does it feel to be in the same cell as the Dead-Last and laziest bum in the whole village? I would quit being a Kunoichi now if I were you. Just thinking about that loser makes me want to puke. You do realize he's going to get you killed right?" Harumi Ami spoke maliciously toward Sasuke. Ami was flanked by two boys that were no doubt in her cell and had only followed Ami to get close to the "Princess Four."

Harumi Ami had always been jealous of the "Princess Four." She had made it her life's ambition to make their lives as miserable as possible while in the Academy. Not only were the four Genin deemed prettier than her but had out shown her in every aspect.

"Get lost Ami. It was such a good day up 'till now," Ino said annoyed that Ami was still bothering them.

"I wasn't talking to you Piggy," Sakura held Ino back from attacking the short-haired girl, "I honestly don't get why Iruka-sensei lied about Naruto's retest. He probably really just begged until he got so annoying they could do nothing _but _make him a Ninja. I think that's all he's good at doing actually. No family or friends. It would be sad if he wasn't so annoying. I would hate to be as lonely as he is. I don't know what I would do without my _parents_. Maybe that's why he's so messed up? There's no one to reprimand him when he gets in troub-" Ami was cut off by one of her teammates who had grabbed her shoulder and pointed to their side.

Naruto was standing there with his fists clenched tightly, "Please Ami, don't stop on my account," the Blonde began to walk toward the group only to push past them. Once he had gone 10 steps he paused briefly, "You shouldn't talk about things you know _nothing_ about," he then continued walking back toward the academy.

"Come on Ami, we should go," the teammate that had grabbed her shoulder suggested not liking the sudden atmosphere the Blonde had left behind.

Ami ground her teeth in anger. She was not going to be the bad guy because of that loser, "I know nothing? Who the hell does he think he is? He lies about killing Mizuki-sensei and suddenly he's the king of the world!" Ami glared at his shrinking figure in the distance, "No good orphan! They're all nothing but a waste of space!"

Nothing could stop Sasuke from slipping a kunai underneath the girl's throat, "You really don't know anything. The loneliness is far worse than any punishment a parent could ever give. You really do annoy me," Sasuke slacked her arm just enough for Ami to back off and leave with her teammates.

The girls of cell 10 could only stare at Sasuke's back and the Uchiha clan symbol embroidered on it.

0o0o0o0

Uchiha Sasuke scowled in what could only be described as nothing other than pure unadulterated annoyance.

For two hours she had been stuck inside the classroom where the orientation had taken place with Naruto and Shikamaru waiting for their tardy Jounin-sensei to arrive. All of the other Jounin-sensei had come and picked up the newly formed cells that they were charged with and left. Even Iruka-sensei had left the three Genin alone.

Naruto was sitting several seats away from her just staring off into space while Shikamaru had gone to the front of the class and took to lying down on the ground before dozing off on his back with his hands behind his head. To say the least the last two hours had been extremely dull.

The sound of a door sliding had caught the attention of all three Genin. They looked over to see a man step into the classroom. He had spiked-up silver hair that made him look older than he probably actually is and wore the standard Chunin/Jounin uniform consisting of a green flack-jacket, blue pants that went into white wraps and the standard issued blue sandals. He wore finger-less gloves with a metal covering for the back-hand and a long sleeved navy blue shirt that he'd rolled up. Most of his face was covered by a mask that went up to his nose and he wore his head-band at an angle so it covered his left eye.

"Hmm…" the Jounin looked over the three Genin as he raised his right hand to his chin in wonder, "My first impression of you… you're all kind of boring looking."

Sasuke scowled at his assessment of them. The man had the gall to show up two hours late and he was going to judge them.

"Says the man two hours late to a mandatory meeting. This is too troublesome," Shikamaru slowly got up from his spot on the ground and patted his pants clean of any dust. Too be honest he really didn't mind that the Jounin was late. It just meant he could nap and not worry about the career that was expected, and not to mention forced, of him.

"Well you see I had promised my mother, who has a bad back, that I would help her move into her new apartment today," the Jounin said lamely, "Why don't we take this meeting somewhere less…" he looked over at Naruto and Sasuke before lazily looking at Shikamaru, "Depressing."

The man turned on his heel and left with the Genin quickly rushing out of the room to keep up with him.

After following him for three minutes the Genin found themselves outside on top of the Academy roof. The Jounin had situated himself against the roof railing while the Genin had taken to sitting around him several feet away.

"Why don't we take a moment to get to know one another and… introduce yourselves before we get to the serious business," the Genin just stared at the weird man.

"What do you mean by "introduce yourselves"?" Shikamaru asked, "You mean like stating our names or personal interests?"

"My, aren't _you_ the little genius?" the Jounin more or less asked in a mocking way, "I'll go first so that way there won't be any confusion for the simple-minded ones," he looked over at Sasuke and Naruto which earned him a glare from both Genin, "My name is Hatake Kakashi and I'm going to be your Jounin-sensei. I really don't feel like telling you any of my likes or dislikes. As for hobbies… I have lots of hobbies. And finally a dream for the future? I've never thought about it before. There. Now you all know what to say."

"_He didn't tell us anything but his name and a fact we already know,_" Sasuke scowled even harder at the man. Was this really a Jounin, an elite ninja?

"_He withheld practically all information about himself. A smart move really. He's never met any of us before and doesn't know what sort of motivations we have. He did mention his mother earlier back in the classroom but for someone like him I really think that was just a lame excuse that he made up. He's sizing us up by getting to know weaknesses and just how well we know how to reveal information. Man this guy really is troublesome. Why did I have to be put in this cell?_" Shikamaru simply laid back and started searching for clouds to look at.

"_What does he mean "going to be our Jounin-sensei?" Isn't he already our Jounin-sensei? Something's off_," Naruto squinted his eyes slightly at the thought.

"Why don't you go first Lazy-san?" Kakashi pointed at the laid back Nara who sighed at being called on.

"_What a drag_," sighing once more Shikamaru introduced himself, "My name is Nara Shikamaru. I really only like sleeping. I dislike just about anything that requires me to do anything. My hobby is cloud-watching. And my dream for the future is too find a wife who'll cook for me and have two kids."

"_Who would marry a lazy-bum like him_?" Sasuke had a disgusted look on her face at the thought of having to cook for the laid back Nara.

Naruto had yet to take his stare off of Kakashi and had let Shikamaru's introduction go half-listened too.

"That wasn't so bad now was it? Alright, your next… _Princess_," Kakashi was practically chuckling to himself at the look sent his way. It truly was easy to get under the skins of Genin.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything and I _hate_ a lot of things," the glare sent Kakashi's way let him know he was on that list of things, "My only hobby is training and what I have is not a dream because I _will_ make it happen. I am going to restore my clan and kill… a certain someone," Sasuke clenched her fists together thinking about that man.

"_She is way too troublesome. I don't see why Kiba even likes her_," Shikamaru closed his eyes and decided that this meeting really was too troublesome.

"_She wants to avenge her clan. Explains why she refused to be anything but the best in the Academy_," Naruto had looked over at her with a dull expression, "_Joy it's my turn next._"

"And last but not least Dull-kun," Kakashi was disappointed at the lack of response from the blonde.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I have quite a few dislikes and like nothing in particular. My hobby is collecting and trying different flavors of ramen. My dream for the future… is to get rid of what I dislike," Naruto had kept his tone even and as neutral as possible.

"_What could he dislike so much that his dream is to get rid of it?_" Sasuke wanted to know but quickly threw the thought away. The Uzumaki wasn't worth her time.

"_Why is everyone so troublesome_?" Shikamaru really didn't care about Naruto's problems.

"_Wonderful. So I have a lazy-bland-bored kid, an avenger princess, and a loner. Almost makes me wish I had the all-girl team for once. At least things will be interesting,_" Kakashi stood up from his place on the railing, "Great. You're all unique with different ideas and dreams. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

The mention of a mission had gotten Sasuke's attention. They were finally talking about something relevant, "What will we be doing?"

"Nothing too difficult but certainly not easy. It's a task the four of us will do together: a survival exercise," a groan came from Shikamaru.

"We already did survival exercises in the Academy," Shikamaru sat up, unable to believe his first mission was to train.

"This isn't anything like those exercises. In fact you'll wish you were doing those exercises," Kakashi began to laugh aloud at his current line of thought.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked. She was beginning to dislike this man for every second she knew him.

"You really won't like my answer but since I want to see the looks on your faces I'll tell you," Kakashi smiled underneath his mask as all three Genin either glared or looked annoyed with him, "Of the 30 Genin to graduate only 9 will actually become Ninja. The other 21 will be sent back to the academy. In other words this is a make-it-or-break-it-pass-fail-test and the chances you'll fail are 70 percent."

The look of shock that etched itself on all three of their faces caused Kakashi to start laughing once more, "I said that you wouldn't like my answer," Kakashi just continued to laugh.

"Then what was the point of the graduation test?" Sasuke asked. She would not let this man get in her way. She couldn't afford to spend more time in the Academy.

"Don't you get it? That graduation test was just a farce to see who had the potential to graduate. This is the real graduation test. This is way too troublesome," Shikamaru was annoyed. He should've realized something was fishy when his dad had told him to do his best this morning.

"_That's what he meant earlier. There's a good chance we'll fail and he _won't_ be our Jounin-sensei. We'll be sent back to the Academy and he'll be able to go back to whatever it is he does_," Naruto scowled at Kakashi who was now trying to silence his chuckling.

"You really are a genius aren't you? That's exactly how it works. _I_ decide whether or not the lot of you is worth keeping in the program or not. Be at training ground 7 at 0500 sharp and make sure to bring your gear. It's going to be a long day. Well that's it you're dismissed," Kakashi waved his hand at them before a look of realization crawled onto the quarter of face that they could see, "I almost forgot. You all should skip breakfast, unless of course you enjoy hurling your stomach out through your mouth," with a final smile at the three Genin Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke that quickly dissipated.

0o0o0o0

Naruto lay in his bed with Kit curled up next to him thinking of what failing the test meant for him and the Fox who was currently asleep. If he failed he would be sent back to the Academy and who knew if he would be allowed to pass again. Not only that but he didn't know how much longer the Hokage would help him in paying the rent for this apartment. He would be back on the streets with nowhere to go.

"I can't fail. I have to pass this test," Naruto let his eyes roll over to his sleeping companion and a small smile came to his face. Naruto nudged the animal awake and earned an annoyed glare from Kit, "I know its late but I was wondering? How would you like to help me out on tomorrows mission?"

0o0o0o0

**A/N From RoninTheIllusionist: Finally got that chapter done. Quick few things before Kozu says anything.**

**First off he and I have a lot planned for this fic and let me tell you it's a lot. We've had some heated discussions on what to throw out, keep and add in. My viewpoints and his just don't line up 100% but we have been able to make compromises. **

**Secondly this will be a harem fic featuring most of the main girls. Hinata will NOT be in it and you naruhina fans can put the flame on me for that decision. It came down to small harem with Hinata or big harem without Hinata and Kozu left the final decision too me. That's not too say there will not be naruhina moments as we do plan on having Hinata be relevant. She just won't be in the Harem in the end. For list of pairings ask Kozu.**

**Third is a shameless plug for my story Son of a Revolutionist, a re-telling of One Piece. Its level of quality is on the same level as Shattered. The fourth chapter is currently being worked on and is around ¾ of the way done.**

**It's all yours Kozu**

**A/N Note From Shintaro Kozu: First, let me say this. I am a Naruhina supporter. So when the final decision to scrap Hinata was made, I was devastated. Hinata needed to be scrapped due to underlying hate for the pairing. While that was a downer for me, at least I got a big harem. xD. And Ronin was not lieing when we said we had a lot planned. We really do. Seriously, you really will see. So, readers, until next time! Review!**

**P.S: seriously, no flame on Femsasuke, please keep it constructive. And What do you think of Kit? Cute or annoyance?**


	3. Filler: Shattered by Sasuke

**Shattered by Sasuke(Filler)**

0o0o0o0o0o

Silence, again.

Sasuke was now, more than ever, aware of this fact. Or rather, it seemed like she was paying more attention to the silence. For brief seconds, Sasuke kept her eyes closed. She was half-hoping that the Silence was only in her imagination, that _he_never killed her family,her clan. She was also hoping that maybe, just maybe, her mother would come into her room and scold her for not being up. Sadly, it was not meant to be. Getting up, Sasuke looked at her surroundings. It was her apartment, nothing changed. Putting her hands up to her face, and trying to rub the sleep out of her head, she remembered faintly how weak she had just been.

" Tch." was her response. She didn't care.

Glancing at the clock, she cursed. It seemed she had gotten up earlier than she had planned. The kunoichi thought about going back to sleep but knew that her mind would never allow it. With this fact, she got up from her bed and walked into her bathroom.

While her bathroom was rather small, it filled the requirements. Sasuke, stripping off her pajamas, got the shower ready. When it was to her preference she stepped in, and let the soap and water cleanse her.

_" ... __What __should __I __do__?" _ it might be something about the water, but every time she is taking a shower, she tends to think. And think she did.

She thought about _him__._ Her past, and Naruto.

_"__Naruto__?..._" she thought, wondering how he had gotten on her mind.

It was true that she was curious about him. It might even transcend curiosity, but Sasuke was never going to admit to that, or even recognize it.

_" __It__'__s __just __curiosity__..." _Sasuke blushed slightly, but attributed it to the hot water gently pelting her.

Getting out, she quickly wrapped a towel around her body. After drying off properly, she went to put on her clothes. Sasuke glanced at the clock one more time. Still too early to head out to the training ground. Still, she wasn't really the type to sit still for extended periods of time. So, she exited her apartment, and went out for a walk.

0o0o0o0o0o

" Sasuke! Over here!" a blonde Yamanaka shouted to the Uchiha while she was walking.

Though she had not planned for meeting Ino, she went over to her anyways. Meeting up with her, Sasuke found her other friends nearby.

" Good timing! We're just about to head to Ichiraku's. Wanna come along?" Ino said, smiling at the brunette. Sasuke thought about it for a couple of seconds. _"__Should __I__?"_ In truth, Sasuke didn't really feel like she belonged in the group. Unlike the other ones, she wasn't that princess like. While she may come from a clan, she didn't really feel like royalty. And it was because of that, she always felt slightly guilty that she was hanging around them all the time. It felt like she was a pencil in a box with three other pens.

Nevertheless Sasuke nodded her head.

" Sure." Sasuke replied. Smiling slightly at the group she followed them to Ichiraku's.

" So? Our team assignments were awesome!" Ino said, but then she looked at Sasuke, " I mean... At least you weren't stuck with Kiba..." Sitting down on the left most stool, Sasuke agreed.

" Yeah... But I stand by what I said earlier. I would have preferred it better if I had at least one of you on my team. One bowl of Ramen, please." Sasuke said, ordering the usual.

Since this was close to the place where they meet, they come to Ichiraku's to eat. It really didn't take much time to have the ramen prepared. In no time Sasuke saw a steaming bowl of ramen right in front of her.

_"__I __almost __forgot__. __You __all __should __skip __breakfast__, __unless __of __course __you __enjoy __hurling __your __stomach __out __through __your __mouth__." _Sasuke stopped dead in her tracks. She had her chopsticks raised, ready to attack her food.

_" __Well__... __I __already __ordered __it__. __Plus__, __I __highly __doubt __that __our __first __mission __would __really __require __me __to __skip __eating__..." _With that in mind, Sasuke started eating.

0o0o0o0o0o

" So? How are you holding up with Naruto and Shikamaru?" Sakura said, looking at Sasuke with mild sympathy. The Princess Four had finished eating, and now took to discussing matters that seemed important, and Sasuke's plight was number one.

" Well... Shikamaru is lazy. And Naruto... Well, Naruto. I don't really care about them, as long as they don't hinder me in my goals." Sasuke responded curtly.

" Oh come on... You so cold to boys Sasuke! You should be interested... But it is Naruto and Shikamaru so I don't blame you." Ino chided in. She then smiled at Sasuke.

" We all know that Shikamaru is Lazy. What we, or rather Hinata, wanted to know was about Naruto." Sakura said, winking at Hinata, who blushed at the mention of her blonde crush.

" Like I said, Naruto is Naruto. There isn't much to him." Sasuke knew that wasn't true. There was something to him, something that she really couldn't place about him. If she really had to put her feelings about him into words, it would be have to be confusing.

" Oh... We just thought that, since your on the same team now, you might know why he changed his suit..." All four girls were very interested in his sudden wardrobe change. It too was on Sasuke's mind as well. Why the sudden change?

" I don't know, why?" The sudden talk of Naruto was making her rather curious.

" It's a girl's natural instincts to want to know everything... And we know nothing about Naruto... Personally I think if it wasn't for his personality he would be better liked." Sakura said casually.

" Y-you think S-o?" Hinata said meekly, stumbling on her words.

" I certainly agree. He has the looks, but his personality is just so cold. It seems like he really just doesn't care. That is such a turn off." Ino scoffed a bit on that last sentence.

" How so?" Sasuke said numbly, trying to get Ino to a point of interest in this conversation.

" Well. first off. He acts like he doesn't care. Like, at all. It's quite off putting to see a kid act like that. Even when he was young, he would never play with kids his age. He always kept to himself. That's not normal... And..." Ino was trying to find the right words to further describe Naruto, but she couldn't find them, or form them into a understandable sentence.

"... The thing that bothered me was his test scores... They were nearly perfect..." Sakura, the book worm, said. The rest of the girls agreed.

" Was he really that good? I mean... He never showed it. And that thing with Mizuki..." The girls shivered. All of them had remembered the look Naruto gave when he had said that. Unknown to the three, Sasuke has seen that look. That look plagued her in her nightmares but the face wasn't of Naruto, but of _him__._

Sasuke looked at the clock at Ichiraku's and cursed. She needed to head out to Training Ground 7. Getting up, she started walking away from them.

" Maybe I will see what Naruto has been holding back today, we have a mission."

* * *

><p><strong>AN Note from ****Shintaro Kozu: Hey guys! Sorry! I accodently posted this chapter again... But no matter, I just wanted to say that you should be expecting a non filler Chapter soon! Just wanted to say that during the fic, I am setting up a poll for your favorite Girl in this fic! Sorry once again, but be lax because Ronin and I are going to come with another one soon. Review**

**Question: What do you think of Fem Sasuke?**


	4. Filler: Shattered by Ino

**Filler: Shattered by Ino**

0o0o0o0

Life was hectic for the blonde kunoichi. In fact, ever since she became one of the most popular girls in the academy her life became busy. It was never easy being a girl, especially one that was as pretty as her.

Yawning, she put those vain thoughts to rest as she got up and rubbed her eyes. Then she opened them again to clear away any drowsiness that remained. When Ino looked at her clock, she was surprised to see that she woke up earlier than expected.

In all honesty, her mother was quite right in making the observation that a kunoichi should be rather punctual, but Ino was Ino, not an expert ninja.

" ...Yet. I'm not an expert ninja, yet." she mumbled out, getting up from the bed, and going to the bathroom.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she cringed a bit. What a total mess. Her hair was unruly, as it had always been like that in the mornings. To Ino, Nature was almost always anti-beauty and her natural hair in the morning was proof of this. Ino finally looked away from the mess, and started to draw a bath.

" Ahhhh." she sighed heavenly as she submersed her naked body in the water. While showers were practical, baths were blissful. Yamanaka Ino would never have survived in a world with out baths, ever. She started to go over what happened yesterday at the academy. She had finally become a ninja. It was something she had dreamed about since she was a little kid when her dad told her stories about his adventures and the wide world.

She had finally taken _her_ first steps into her own adventures, she was sure of it.

While she was happy that her squad consisted of her friends, she was rather unhappy about Sasuke's situation.

While Ino had the best possible situation, Sasuke didn't. Sasuke, Ino thought, got the worst possible situation. Normally you would expect, at the most, one person on your team that you won't like, or even want, but Sasuke has two. She had Shikamaru "Lazy Ass " Nara and Naruto " Dead-last" Uzumaki. Both were not ninja material in her opinion.

Ever since they were children Shikamaru and Naruto were like that. When they were young, Ino always saw Shikamaru and Naruto playing together, That was, until Shikamaru stopped hanging out with him.

What possibly happened?

The water gently blanketed Ino, making her feel more relaxed. It was during those moments of clarity and relaxation, that she tended to deduce and think. While not a genius like Shikamaru, she did tend to think things through correctly when she was in the bath. Not this time.

_" __Maybe __he __did __something __to __make __Shikamaru __mad__? __No__... __It__'__s __Lazy __Ass __Shikamaru__! __He __can__'__t __be __bothered __being __angry __at __anything__! " _Ino thought to herself, smirking at her reasoning.

_"... __If __not __that__?...__Ugh__!" _Ino shook her head, trying to divulge Naruto's past is impossible. That boy certainly is a mystery. Pushing it out of her head, Ino felt herself fully relax in the bath. In fact, she relaxed so much, she even forgot that she was thinking about the blonde boy in the first place.

Feeling clean and relaxed, the girl stepped out of the bath. The sudden cold that her body felt made her rush to get to the towel, and dry off.

0o0o0o0

" ...I am so glad that she didn't get picked to be put with _him__._...Hokage-sama must've listen-" Ino's mother whispered before she got cut off by her husband.

"Shh!" the father quickly hissed, indicating that their daughter was on her way towards them. They wanted to keep her ignorant on the matter of the Kyuubi boy, after all they didn't want to be killed. With forced smiles, the pair looked at Ino, who had just entered the kitchen where they had their discussion.

Ino, truth be told, liked eavesdropping. It was a very bad habit, but being a ninja encouraged information gathering, and that sanctioned her indulgence. So she had naturally heard what they had been talking about.

The thing Ino wanted to know was _who_ they were talking about. That piqued her interest.

" Ino? Aren't you supposed to meet up with Hinata and Sakura for breakfast?" Ino's mom questioned the young blonde. Her hands were on her hips, and the look was a mix of amusement and anxiety.

_" __How __much __did __she __hear__?" _Ino's mother had thought to herself.

It was then that Ino's eyes widened at the sudden realization that she did make an arrangement to eat with Hinata and Sakura at Ichiraku's.

With hurried steps, Ino rushed past them, and out the front door with a shout, " Thanks, Mom!"

0o0o0o0

" So? Where is Sasuke?" Ino asked her friends when the met up.

" Well, After that whole incident with Ami, we couldn't catch up with her to talk to her about it." Sakura said, sympathetically remembering what happened to Sasuke's clan.

" T-that was very U-unfortunate." Hinata whispered with just enough volume that only the two of her friends could hear.

Neither of them knew the specifics of what had happened that night, and none of them could really imagine how anybody could have killed one of the best ninja clans in the village in one night. They couldn't think of a single person with that amount of power, not even the Hokage.

That was the scary part.

Ino hated prolonged silence, it usually didn't mean anything good. So when the dialogue stopped, she quickly thought of other things to discuss.

" Ya know... Wasn't Naruto acting strangely? " Ino said, remembering the blonde's behavior at the graduation. Talking about Naruto wasn't well received anywhere, and Ino expected some strange looks.

She wasn't disappointed.

The looks the two of them gave her were to be expected, but it was the looks from the other villagers that were the shock.

All of the looks were mystifying to the blonde. How could they make such a look? The looks were unanimously filled with Hate or something along those lines.

" Naruto? Why would you talk about _him__? _Did you go rouge on us now, Ino? " Sakura,with a look of gross wonderment on her face, remarked before looking at Hinata and quickly apologizing.

" Not funny Sakura! It's just that he has been acting strangely!"

It was then that The group had glimpsed Sasuke walking down the road.

" Sasuke! Over here!" Ino shouted, getting the Uchiha's attention. It was very lucky, they were about to talk about something that Sasuke might know more about, seeing as she was Naruto's newly established teammate.

When Sasuke walked up to Ino, the blonde smiled.

" Good timing! We're just about to head to Ichiraku's. Wanna come along?" Ino asked, hoping she would say yes. She continued to smile at the Uchiha, who hadn't replied immediately.

To Ino, Sasuke was something else. She always had to think hard before ever accepting anything. When she first became friends with her, it was a bit strange. Now though, she thought nothing of it.

When Sasuke finally nodded her head and replied to her, Ino walked with the rest of them to Ichiraku's.

" So? Our team assignments were awesome!" Ino said to the group excitedly. Sitting down, she looked at Sasuke with a guilty expression, " I mean... At least you weren't stuck with Kiba..."

When seeing Sasuke agree, Ino breathed a sigh of relief.

" Yeah... But I stand by what I said earlier. I would have preferred it better if I had at least one of you on my team. One bowl of Ramen, please." Sasuke replied, looking at the menu.

0o0o0o0

The three girls looked at Sasuke as she had just dropped the bombshell. A mission? With Naruto and Shikamaru?

Now that made Ino curious. It was apparent that she had an overwhelming urge to know. She inherited this from both of her parents, and because of that, it seemed to be stronger in Ino than in both of them.

The girls both looked at each other in with a puzzled expression, but then continued to talk about Naruto.

"...So? Sakura... What do you think of his new outfit?" Ino asked, wondering what the pinkette thought.

" I don't really know... It's Naruto, he's a mystery..."

That was the one thing all of the girls could admit about that boy.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Note From Shintaro Kozu: Damn.. well I didn't expect writing ANOTHER filler chapter. Sorry to delay once more, but I have been busy, and I have no doubt Ronin was too ( Look at Son of a Revolutionist's new chapter length!) I do not want to delay anymore, but I just do not have time to write the third chapter. My birthday is coming up soon ( it's on the seventeenth), and I have to fly to Washington D.C. on the eighteenth through the twenty-first, so I can't write then. So I just wrote Ino's morning to flesh her character out more. This Chapter in on the same day as Sasuke's chapter, as you'll have no doubt read.**

**Since I had gotten a review about a harem list, I thought I would put one on my story, just to clear up any misunderstandings. the girls will be (fem)Sasuke, Ino, Sakura, Tayuya, Shion, Tenten,Temari, Konan, and somebody that I am not sure If I should reveal, because Ronin may not want me too.**

**Note: Due to many arguements over which girls can be accepted, we have decided to throw out all of the filler girls completely, sorry if you like them, but there is too many, and neither Ronin, nor I can be bothered watching episodes of Naruto, trying to decipher how we can work these girls in.**

**BE SURE TO VOTE ON MY POLL ( ON MY PROFILE)! it helps us know what you think of the Princess Four!**

**Question: Since we have made fem Sasuke, should we make a Fem Gaara?**


	5. Shattered by Teamwork

hapter Three: **Shattered by Teamwork**

Naruto woke up gasping hard, sweat pouring down his brow and a slight confusion of where he was. Taking a few deep breaths, Naruto took in his surroundings and breathed a sigh of relief to see the familiar sight of his room. Calming himself down from the nightmare he just had Naruto looked at the clock to see that it read 04:00. He sighed in annoyance and made his way to the bathroom to shower.

The steaming water released the tension in his muscles that his dream had caused, "Was it a dream or is it a memory? It keeps occurring every night since just before the graduation test. Did I really…?" Naruto shook his head, "Now isn't the time to think about it. Hatake's test is in less than an hour. I need to finish getting ready," Naruto turned the water off and quickly threw on his clothes before making breakfast, ignoring Kakashi's warning about throwing up.

0o0o0o0

"That Jackass is going to be late again," Sasuke scowled as she looked at the watch she kept underneath her cuffs.

"Good. It just means I can sleep some more," Shikamaru said before laying down on where the three Genin had gathered.

"Shikamaru," Sasuke called out to her teammate before the lazy Nara could doze off.

"What?" Shikamaru asked annoyed.

"What type of survival mission do you think he'll make us do?" Sasuke asked, "To be honest I don't really like either of you but if he's going to give us the time to set up we might as well. Whatever he's going to throw at us we need to be ready. This test is to eliminate us from the program and I've worked to damn hard to fail because of you two."

Naruto's fist tightened, he also worked hard as well. He won't fail because of Sasuke.

"Man, you're too troublesome. If I had to guess… it could be us against him. A test to eliminate us huh? Hmm… divide and conquer maybe? Probably something to make us work against each other and save himself the trouble," Shikamaru yawned before rolling onto his side, "Then again it could be hike out to some remote wasteland and survive there for however long until he thinks we're worthy of being Ninja."

"Then we should be ready for anything. If we want to be among the nine that pass we're going to have to put our differences aside. Whether we like it or not we're a team and our lives will depend on each other later on," Sasuke looked both of her teammates in the eye.

"But can we even trust each other now? How do Naruto and I know you won't abandon us when it counts? You've always been out for yourself," Shikamaru knew this was a question that had to be asked no matter how troublesome it was, "And the same goes for Naruto and me as well? We don't even know anything about each other besides the fact we all went to the Academy."

Both Naruto and Sasuke pondered the question and doubts could be seen on their faces. And it was true that they really didn't know anything about each other.

"See? How can we trust our lives to one another if we don't even know who the others in this team are? Of course there's a 70% failure rate. They set it up that way. If they don't need a team or a specific person isn't it easier to just get rid of them? They only need 3 cells and they more than likely already know who's going to pass and who isn't. The real question is if we're one of those 3 cells who they want. And it all comes down to trust. The trust that we'll do whatever it takes to pass. Hell we don't even know what our test is yet. How can we prepare for something we have no knowledge about? It's a part of being a Ninja. Variables can change in an instant and throw months even years of preparation into the shit hole. It's all too troublesome," Shikamaru rolled over and sighed heavily.

"Then what do we do? Just wait for our ass of a sensei and hope we can do this survival mission that we've been given no prep for?" Sasuke asked annoyed at Shikamaru's lethargic attitude and Naruto's apathetic demeanor.

"I have an idea," Naruto spoke suddenly giving the other two a bored expression.

0o0o0o0

Kakashi walked lazily toward his charges and could feel the glares from across the field. He waved his hand apologetically before addressing them, "Sorry I'm late. You see a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around," the Jounin rubbed the back of his head and pointed back the way he came. He heard the light coughing and mutterings of "liar" and "yeah right."

Ignoring the comments he pulled an alarm clock from his pack and set it on a tree stump, "Right! Well then let's get this over with. I have an important date tonight and I think I might get lucky," Kakashi grinned with his eye as he felt Sasuke's glare intensify.

"It's set to go off at noon," Kakashi pointed to the clock, "You'll have from now to then to get one of these bells from me," Kakashi pulled out two bells and dangled them so the Genin could see, "Whoever doesn't get a bell will get tied to one of those posts and watch as the winners eat lunch."

Three stomachs growled in protest at the notion and Kakashi smiled with his eye again.

"Oh and whoever doesn't pass will be sent back to the Academy," Kakashi decided to remind them what failing really meant.

"How is that fair? There's only two bells. No matter what happens at least one of us will fail," Sasuke not liking the idea of having to compete with her fellow teammates.

"That's the point. So at least one of us fails and he doesn't have to train all three of us. Tch, this test is way too troublesome," Shikamaru furrowed his brow trying to think of a way to pass the test without having to fight Naruto or Sasuke.

"Very perceptive Lazy-kun," Kakashi teased Shikamaru, "The test will begin in 30 seconds. I have one final piece of advice for the three of you," All three Genin looked at Kakashi intently, "Unless you come at me with the intent to kill, you will all fail. Now… begin!" All three Genin went off in separate directions.

Kakashi stood still, easily sensing where each Genin had gone, "_Not bad for Genin at least. They all separated themselves though… well the test did just begin. I'll give them a little more time before I start the fun. Perhaps finishing the next chapter of Come Come Paradise will kill the time_," The silver-haired man giggled to himself perversely before sensing the presence of one Naruto Uzumaki, "Oh? You're the dead last of your group right? You sure it's wise to take me on by yourself?" Kakashi waved Naruto off as a non-threat. Even if the reports were true and Naruto had killed Mizuki the blonde still wasn't a match for himself. The difference between a Jounin and Genin was just too far.

"You shouldn't underestimate an opponent Sensei," Naruto prepared himself. He'd never actually fought a Jounin before but he'd sure as hell outrun them plenty of times. Besides Sasuke and Shikamaru were still setting the plan up.

"That's cute, you think you need to lecture me. Well then here's a lesson for you. Taijutsu, the art of hand to hand combat. Let's see how good you are… Dead Last," Kakashi knew he'd hit a soft spot at Naruto's flinch. He then reached for an item from his back pouch and pulled it out surprising the two hidden Genin and Naruto.

Naruto just glared at the Jounin, "Why did you pull that out?"

"Hmm? Why? To find out what happens of course. After all you're nothing more than a nuisance and my book is far more entertaining than anything you try to do," Kakashi had begun reading and turning pages not even looking at Naruto.

Annoyed, Naruto charged in. Reaching a foot from plowing into the bored Jounin, Naruto jumped and twisted his body to swing his right leg around kick Kakashi in the head.

Lazily Kakashi blocked the kick with his free arm, keeping his eyes focused on the page he was reading.

Before he fell, Naruto formed his index and middle fingers in a cross shape, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A puff of smoke appeared in front of Kakashi, who dropped backwards and avoided the fist aimed at his face.

The Jounin kicked his leg upwards, causing a surge of pain to go through the clone's stomach before it disappeared. Kakashi quickly got back on his feet and continued to read more.

Naruto scowled before he pulled out two kunai knives. He threw one and smirked as Kakashi went to catch it before it could hit him. Just as the man was about to grab the thrown projectile Kakashi found Naruto's kneecap in his face. Naruto had used the replacement jutsu to swap places with his thrown kunai. Not giving up his momentum, Naruto twisted his torso and kicked at the book in Kakashi's hand causing it to fly out of his now loose grip.

Naruto then reached behind him to grab the Jounin's flak jacket to spin himself around and reached for a bell with his remaining kunai to cut it loose.

"_Dead-Last my ass!_" Kakashi grabbed Naruto's arm before the Genin's kunai could cut the bell's string and twisted his body to throw the Genin away from him. Kakashi landed in a crouched position while Naruto skidded across the field on his back.

"I hope you know that if you damaged my book, you're buying me a new one," Kakashi said annoyed looking at his discarded book.

"Only if you give me one of those bells," Naruto replied getting up, dirt covering his clothes. Blood rolled down his elbow and dripped from his hand, a large gash could be seen from where his arm had been dragged against the ground.

"You're going to have to do better than this to get them from me. Do you honestly believe you can take them from me? I'm a Jounin and I've been assigned a mission that I refuse to fail," Kakashi said as he bent over to pick his book back up, "And I never fail a mission," before Naruto or the other two Genin could comprehend what had happened Kakashi was crouched behind the blond his hands clenched together in the tiger seal, "You really shouldn't let your enemy get behind you."

Naruto's eyes had widened. He'd been looking right at the guy and he'd just disappeared from view. It wasn't possible.

"This is way too troublesome! His speed is ridiculous. I really am not sure if this plan is going to work anymore. Geez he's going to destroy Naruto," Shikamaru began to reform the plan in his head.

"The tiger seal is used for fire jutsu! This guy isn't toying around. He really plans on sending us back to the Academy," Sasuke could only watch as Kakashi attacked.

"Leaf Village Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Years of Death!"

Naruto's pelvis jerked forward as he felt an intrusion in his rectum causing him to jump forward and fall into the nearby stream.

Sasuke felt an intense heat fill her cheeks and couldn't even begin to think of what she just saw.

"He… he poked Naruto in the ass… Geez this guy is way too troublesome," Shikamaru could only feel embarrassment for his fellow teammate.

"And that's all she wrote. Though I must say I am a little impressed," Kakashi went back to reading his book, "The emotion in this novel is spot on."

Both Shikamaru and Sasuke could only sweat-drop at the declaration.

Naruto slowly climbed up out from the river, breathing hard.

"You know at this rate you aren't going to get a bell," Kakashi said as he turned a page.

"Grr," Naruto grit his teeth in anger at being looked down upon, "Don't underestimate me."

"I'm not. In fact I think I'm overestimating you. Aren't you the one that defeated the traitor Mizuki?" Kakashi asked turning another page, "I mean where did all your killer intent go? Or did you realize you're in over your head?"

Naruto didn't answer the man. Instead six clones jumped out of the river and all flung a flurry of kunai and shuriken at the Jounin. All seven Narutos rushed forward and went in for the kill.

Kakashi had immediately pocketed his coveted book and went on the defensive. Each clone and the original were fast and precise: aiming at a kill zone on his body with a weapon or fist. Kakashi was beginning to see why Mizuki had been defeated by the blond boy.

The Shadow Clone technique was a forbidden technique as it required a lot of chakra to produce a single clone sometimes more chakra than even a Jounin possessed. For a Genin to produce six clones and not die was noteworthy in of itself. But not only was Naruto still breathing but he was attacking and, not that he would ever admit this to a soul, actually forcing Kakashi to protect himself from being killed.

"_I think I might have to have a chat with Naruto's Academy instructors after this. His overall scores aren't matching what he actually can do_," Kakashi caught a fist, kunai in hand, that was aimed for his jugular and reversed it on the clone effectively killing the copy of Naruto.

Kakashi smoothly dodged or blocked all of the attacks thrown at him, killing each clone one at a time until only the original was left. "

0o0o0o0

"It seems that all of you failed to get your objective," Kakashi jangled the two bells in front of his Genin team, "But I've decided to be generous today and won't send any of you back to the Academy."

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed at that. There had to be a catch. So far Kakashi always had more to add.

Sasuke just glared at the man, still upset that she had let her opportunity to get the bells pass her by.

Naruto on the other hand seemed bored as he had been tied to one of the log posts for trying to get his lunch early.

"Not even a yay. Oh well I guess since I'm dropping you all from the program I won't have to deal with your boring excitement," Kakashi was practically on the ground laughing when Sasuke lost her cool for a moment followed by her two male counterparts.

"What! You said if we failed we'd only be sent back to the Academy!" Sasuke yelled, "You lying bastard!"

"My, my such language from such a distinguished young lady. Did your parents forget to teach you manners when addressing those of higher rank?" Kakashi knew he had pushed Sasuke's last button as she sprinted head on toward him, fully ready to cleave his head right off.

Sasuke only found more frustration as the older Ninja had her pinned in a heartbeat.

"Arrogance," Kakashi spat the word out, "How could I even begin to think of letting any of you become Genin if you can't even figure out this simple test?"

Sasuke struggled to get out from beneath the man in pure anger but couldn't get over Kakashi's weight crushing her smaller form.

"And just what was this test about anyway? It bothered me from the beginning. Why only two bells? Why word everything you said to us the way you did. Why pit us against one another when this was supposed to be a _team_ survival mission? The answer isn't hard Sensei; it's more or less a matter of having faith in your team to put themselves aside and help," Shikamaru had laid back and took to looking at the clouds.

"That's correct. This is a _team_ exercise and not only that but a passable _team _exercise. All you had to do was come at me together and you might have been able to get the bells from me," Kakashi pushed on Sasuke's arm and dug the kunai she was still holding onto into the back of her neck, "You saw Naruto fighting right in front of you and chose only to help when it was a convenience to you," Kakashi then looked at Naruto, "Naruto!"

"Hn," the boy was looking anywhere but at his Sensei.

"You do everything on your own. Instead of trying to find your teammates and pool your strengths together you chose to fight alone against an opponent that you couldn't hope to beat on your best of days. And you," Kakashi looked over at the Nara heir, "You didn't even try to do anything at all. You had figured at the test and yet gave up before it even began. You want life to be easy and everything to be handed to you on a silver platter. I have news for you nothing ever is. Shikamaru I want you to kill Naruto or Sasuke dies," Kakashi decided to add a little flare for style and released a small amount of killing intent, effectively causing the three Genin to go rigid, "Do it. **Now**," Kakashi dug the kunai into Sasuke who gave a yelp of pain as blood began to run down her neck.

Shikamaru had sat up when Kakashi had given his order and was now frozen. His eyes had moved slowly toward the bound Uzumaki who was looking back at him.

Silence had filled the training ground.

After a minute Kakashi let up on the K.I. and released Sasuke before getting up and walking over to the decorative stone that had been placed off to the side, "That's what happens. Someone makes a mistake and the others are left with an impossible choice to make," Kakashi stared intently at the stone.

"So all we have to do is work as a team and we pass? It seems you were right Shikamaru," Kakashi's world came crashing down on him as Sasuke spoke up. The Jounin turned around and saw Sasuke cutting Naruto loose.

"Yeah. It's still troublesome though. I really was hoping one of you guys would get a bell by now but I guess we were underestimating Sensei," Shikamaru shrugged in irritation before sighing.

"What do you think you're doing Sasuke? Naruto is being punished for going against my rules. Perhaps you were hoping to join him? Besides the test is over. You missed your chance to become Genin," Kakashi was beginning to get annoyed with these kids.

"Heh. I have to say we figured this test out before you even showed up. I figured you would use the old divide and conquer routine so we decided to play along to wear you down," Shikamaru then pointed to the clock as Sasuke spoke up.

"Taijutsu and Ninjutsu aren't the only skills that Ninja have, Sensei. Genjutsu is something you should've learned to break out of in the Academy," the smirk on Sasuke's face was driving Kakashi up a wall but nothing could help the shock that shook his whole being as he saw the hands on the clock go from 1215 back to 1155.

"You said that if we wanted to pass we had to come at you with the intent to kill right?" Naruto finally spoke up as he rubbed where he had been bound at his wrists, "Well then prepare to die Sensei!" Naruto and Sasuke suddenly poofed out of existence as a volley of kunai and shuriken came flying from where they had been before.

Kakashi jumped out-of-the-way only to feel an intense heat come flying towards him. Looking up Kakashi saw a wall of fire engulfing the entire field.

"**Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu**!"

"**Water Style: Typhoon Wall Jutsu**!" Kakashi had flashed through his hand signs as fast as he could and erected a wall of water in the nick of time.

"**Shadow Possession Jutsu**!" Shikamaru called out his families famed jutsu and ensnared Kakashi in place, "Naruto! Now's your chance!"

Naruto came flying toward Kakashi.

"Did you think for one second, _Sensei_, that I was going to let myself fail?!" Naruto yelled at him.

The Red Glint in Naruto's eyes had made Kakashi's hair stand on edge and his stomach drop, but he didn't know why. Kakashi knew he shouldn't feel this way when facing a _Genin Recruit._ He knew something off.

For the briefest of seconds, Kakashi felt fear.

Naruto's punch landed square center of Kakashi's stomach causing some pain to Kakashi. Still trapped by Shikamaru's Jutsu, the White Haired Jonin could only watch as the team he viewed as failures, as not worth his time, succeed in his test, and in grabbing the bells.

Still shocked, Kakashi looked at Naruto. The smile on Naruto's face was controlled, and normal looking,but it was hiding his true smile, one that truly displayed his emotions.

"I am not going to lose, not to anybody anymore."

0o0o0o0

**A/N Note from Shintaro Kozu: Hey guys! Sorry for the incredibly long wait, but you know, school and shit. Now I want to make sure this gets handled pretty quickly, We ( Ronin and I) are not here to satisfy the qualms of the people, we are here to tell an awesome story. You may not like our story and we are sorry, but we are pretty dead set in the direction and pace of the story.**

**Also, I would like to point out the shortness of this chapter, it was not expected. I lost my muse, and eventually had other things to do than right a long chapter, and I am extremely sorry for that. Ronin has decided that it woud be in our best interest if he had less of a part in the story maing and writing process, which means it was left to me to complete a chapter I had no idea I was supposed to. But, in the end, it got done. The ending was rushed, but I felt the need to finish it today. I don't really understand, but I felt the need to show you guys that I have't given up writing this yet.**

**Also, I notice that people think Naruto hasn't been dark. Well, we can explain. He is hiding his emotions to conceal his inner hate for the village until the time is right.  
><strong>

**Sorry for the long authors note, but without further ado the end of chapter question:**

**How Dark would you like Naruto to be?  
><strong>


	6. Shattered by the Wave

Chapter Four: **Shattered By The Wave**

'_Boring._ _All of these missions are BORING.'_

Sasuke had about enough of catching cats, tending to the elderly, and taking care of gardens. She wanted a mission that will gauge her skills, and then she can finally see how far she had come and how much further she needed to go to defeat him.

It was never about being better than everybody else, though that did feel great. No, it was about finding and killing him, her brother.

It was with this mindset that when the trio went in to get their new mission, Sasuke immediately resolved to ask for a more challenging one.

"Hokage-sama...," She paused, unsure of how to approach the situation. The Third Hokage looked at her, his eyes filled with mild curiosity.

"Hokage-sama," She said it with more confidence this time, "I request a more difficult mission."

Sasuke looked at the Hokage, who, in turn, stared back at her and her team. His eyes slightly fogged as he recalled his students, or rather, a certain white-haired genin asking the same thing to him when he was the Legendary Sennin's Sensei. A smile curled on the old man's face as he reminisced about the past, but reality soon took precedence and he addressed Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I know you can handle more difficult missions, but this is more than about you. You are part of a team," He turned to Naruto and Shikamaru, "I think we should ask your teammates whether or not _they_ are ready for the missions that you want."

The old man had a point and Sasuke knew it. She had been focused completely on herself and she completely disregarded the fact that the team will get harder missions, not just her.

This was no problem to Naruto however, he had wanted to try out some of the new Jutsu he learned from the scroll and he felt that he was wasting away all of his potential. His bloodlust had been silent, but he ached to battle. He needed to get stronger too, he had a whole village to destroy and villagers to kill but he wasn't going to do it while the old man was still in office.

Naruto, while knowing not the concept of love, felt some respect for the Hokage. Naruto couldn't explain it better than that. In all of the village, the Hokage is the only one who ever seemed to care about him.

The lazy genius to the left of Naruto sighed,"Man,what a drag. First we pass the exam, and we got lucky enough to get all these easy missions...," He subtly smiled, "To be honest Hokage-sama, the girl is going to get those missions regardless of what _I _say. Why bother fighting something that is inevitable? Troublesome."

Taking that as a yes, the Hokage moved his eyes toward Naruto. Looking at the boy he saw that he was smiling. It was unnerving. It wasn't that it was unnerving to see Naruto smile, though that was strange in itself. It was _how _he was smiling. The smile that was etched for only a second before Hiruzen called Naruto's name was unsettling. He had seen the same smile etched on many faces he would rather forget.

"Naruto?"

The calling of his name snapped the boy out of his thoughts and brought him into the reality of the situation. When he fully realized the situation that was in front of him, he nodded, showing his approval of the request.

The Hokage kept his eyes on Naruto for brief seconds before picking up the Missions list, and scanned it for a mission he thought would be appropriate for the trio. Hiruzen noticed that all of the missions that he would have sent the trio on were taken. There was a C rank mission, but he didn't think that they are ready enough for an escort mission to a foreign land.

"It seems like there are no missions within your skill sets right now. Perhaps another time, Sasuke?"

Naruto observed Sasuke frown and Shikamaru yawn before he heard the Ice Princess speak up.

"Can we take a mission outside of our skill set?"

_'She must really want a mission,'_ The Hokage observed as he looked at the girl. Thinking for a minute, he looked at the list and eyed the C mission for a second.

"There is one mission available, but it would require you to do it with another genin team..."

Sasuke, Shikamaru and Naruto exchanged looks with each other, wondering if they should take the mission with this requirement.

"But," the Hokage continued, "the person who requested it can only pay for one team."

There was a moment of silence before Sasuke spoke, "We can do the mission for free."

Naruto looked at the girl in faint wonderment. Was this girl really that desperate to go on this mission? The Hokage looked at the girl with a similar thought in his head. In fact, everyone, save for Sasuke, wondered practically the same thing about her. Shikamaru thought she might be insane.

"Now Sasuke," The Hokage started with a small smile, "What did we just discuss? You can't make decisions like that without the consent of the team."

Shikamaru sighed, but he nodded, showing his approval of Sasuke's proposal. To be honest with himself, Shikamaru was getting bored of the missions they had been assigned, and wanted a taste of excitement, plus he doubted the Hokage would send them on a mission that will be too difficult. Sure the no pay stuff is a drag, but it beats having his cheek pinched by senior citizens all the time.

Naruto, on the other hand, was a bit apprehensive to consent. As much as he wanted a tougher mission, he _needed_ the money from this job. Part of the reason he was so determined to become a ninja was the fact that it paid decently and money is a necessity that Naruto had barely any of. Still, he wanted to go on this mission and not being paid isn't going to stop him. He looked at The Third Hokage and nodded, he consented.

The Hokage was amazed that Shikamaru and Naruto would consent. He was surprised at Naruto especially since his home situation would improve tremendously if he could get a decent income.

"Alright, but I am going to need your Sensei's permission in order to void your payments and allow you to go on this C rank mission," The Hokage then looked at them and called out Kakashi's name.

"Yo," The white-haired Jounin said as he popped into the office with a could of smoke. He then stood at attention and looked at the Hokage as the old man addressed him.

"Kakashi, it seems like the Genin under your care have volunteered to partner up with another Genin team and go on a C rank mission... For free."

The Jounin was trying to control his expression as the look of astonishment flashed across while he looked at the trio and then back to the Hokage.

"These three are under your care, Kakashi, so the final say goes to you. Will you allow these three and you to go on this mission without any payment?"

Kakashi looked at the three, and thought silently before he formed what seemed like a smile on his masked lips. A normal Sensei would flatly refuse, but after seeing what the three could dish out when he tested them, he decided to let them go.

"Alright," Kakashi then looked at the trio, "I'll give my consent for you drama queens and I to go on this mission," he then grumbled to himself, but still loud enough to be heard, "for free."

Sasuke, who was practically sure that Kakashi would refuse, smiled. She had gotten what she wanted, though not without some sacrifice. Naruto remained stoic, but he was barely controlling his emotions, as he didn't want to reveal to much to the others on how he was truly feeling. He took the ninja way of deception to heart as he realized that the less people knew about the true him, the more oblivious of his goals they are.

"Now, hold on," Hiruzen spoke, as he looked at Sasuke's smile, "I need to find another Genin Cell that also take this mission. You can't go unless another cell agrees to partner up with you."

It was then that Sasuke revealed her solution to the apparent problem.

"Hokage-sama, I know cell 10 is currently training this month. I am sure they will be more than willing to accept this mission."

The Hokage contemplated the idea before nodding, "Alright, Sasuke please go and get cell 10," Sarutobi then looked to yellow-haired boy," Naruto, a moment please."

The Hokage got up and began to move towards office exit with Naruto in tail.

* * *

><p>"Naruto, how have you taken to life as a ninja?" The Hokage asked looking a bit concerned for the boy.<p>

The Hokage's eyes flashed a look of sadness as he remembered the circumstances of Naruto's life. He often wondered if he was doing enough to ensure that Naruto would become one of the greatest beacons of hope and happiness in the village, but it seems that no matter how caring the Hokage can be, others will be ten times more destructive.

Naruto stayed silent, as he had no real answer for the old man. He just followed silently behind Sarutobi.

Glancing at the boy, the Hokage eyes flashed a look of immense pity. How much damage has this boy had to endure? Sarutobi took a breath before talking again.

"What goals do you have, Naruto?" By this time, Sarutobi stopped walking and turned to face the boy.

Naruto's heart skipped a beat as he fought for control over his emotions. The boy's mind was racing, as he thought a million thoughts before settling on one startling question.

Did the Hokage know what Naruto truly desires?

"Yes, I want people to stop hating and hurting me. I want people to respect me for the person I am. I just want to be..." Naruto trailed off and remained silent, shuffling slightly.

The old man looked at Naruto, gently pressing him to continue, but then he realized that Naruto will not say anything more he smiled.

"Perhaps, striving to be the very best this village has to offer will be enough to gain respect of some of the villagers here?" The Hokage seriously considered his words before continuing, "Naruto, why not strive to become the Hokage, and truly make the people respect you by taking care of them and defending them?"

"Why?"

The slip of the tongue was so quick Naruto didn't realize he said it until there was a slight bit of silence afterwards. Sarutobi looked at the boy with a face that clearly showed surprise.

"I'm sorry?" The Hokage said, asking Naruto to clarify.

"Why take care of and protect these people?" Naruto asked the old man with a faint hint of anger. It was something Naruto wanted to ask the old man, as Sarutobi held that position and saw it as a sign of power.

The Hokage remained silent only for a second before he asked, "Why not?"

Sarutobi wanted to know the meaning behind his question and waited patiently for the answer Naruto was about to give.

Usually Naruto wouldn't say a thing, but Sarutobi was the only one he felt safe enough with to reveal to him SOME of the truth.

Naruto took a breath and started.

"They-"

He was promptly cut off by a messenger ninja that popped into existence.

"Hokage-sama, Cell 10 is currently waiting for you at the office to receive their mission."

Nodding, the Hokage looked at Naruto and said, "Come, let's not make them wait."

* * *

><p>Cell 10, which consisted of the majority of the Princess Four and their red eyed Sensei, were waiting in the office with Sasuke when Sarutobi and Naruto arrived.<p>

"Hokage-sama, you want us to go on a mission with cell 7?" Kurenai asked with curt bow.

Looking at the woman, the Hokage nodded and addressed cell 10.

"Cell 7 has requested to do a mission that is currently outside of their abilities, and they need another cell to do a joint mission."

While Kurenai was addressing the Hokage, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata were looking at Naruto with questioning looks. Naruto was sure that they were wondering what type of relationship he has with the old man. He was also sure that they won't ever find out.

"What type of mission is it, Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked Sarutobi in a professional manner, clearly she knew how to respect authority properly, which was something Naruto had a hard time doing.

"It's a relatively easy escort mission, you shouldn't be expecting any trouble, but since Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru are newly instated Genin, it is better doing a joint mission with another Genin team." The Hokage answered Kurenai, but everybody heard it.

Naruto was a bit disappointed at the fact that the Hokage is going to send them on a mission that fighting is not expected, but Sasuke was clearly disappointed more so as a deep frown etched itself onto her face.

Sasuke was about to protest but a quick look from her three friends persuaded her not to.

"Who are we escorting, if I may ask?" Kurenai asked before scanning around the room for any unfamiliar face.

"Yeah! Is it a princess, or maybe a prince? Is it a merchant? A movie star?" Ino started excitedly, she had expected this mission to be important. Why else would they need two Genin teams?

Smiling a bit, the Hokage answered while putting a pipe in his mouth, "Well, let's meet him now. Send in our guest."

All eyes were focused on the door of the office and the feelings of anticipation were high.

"Ahh shit, I am so wasted." A slurred voice came from behind the door as a man opened it, "What? These _kids_ are supposed to protect me?" The mysterious man with dark grey hair said as he took a swig of sake he had in his hand.

He then slightly staggered into the room as he eyed everybody. They were doing the same of him and to everyone's, in particular Ino's, disappointment it turned out it was none of the choices that Ino wanted.

Tazuna, the bridge builder, eyed everybody closely. Even when he was drunk, he was a good judge of character and of skill, and he plainly didn't see any in the children that were in front of him.

"This is what my money is good for? Paying kids to do a man's job?" He said before he laid eyes on Kakashi who was quietly reading Icha Icha Paradise in peace.

"At least tell me you have him on the payroll." He said to the Hokage pointing to the masked ninja.

"I'm Sasuke," The black haired girl said as she bravely chose to address the disheveled and slightly annoying man.

"I'm Sakura," Sakura, following suit, introduced herself.

"I'm Ino," The blonde did the same.

"H-Hinata," The Hyuuga heiress said shyly as her eyes were still looking in the direction of the blonde haired boy.

"Naruto," Naruto answered, as calm and collected as he could be.

"Shikamaru," The lazy genius told the man.

"Yeah?" Tazuna said looking at the group of six,"And I am Drunk and Disappointed," He then turned to Kakashi. "How much do I owe you?"

Kakashi then shook his head and pointed at Kurenai while saying, "It's her you should be paying, I am offering my and my team's services for free."

Tazuna then eyed Kurenai for a minute before smiling.

"Well, here ya go, Babe," He handed her the money he owed for the mission and then turned to the six Genin that were looking at him.

"I'll give you two hours to prepare before I head out. Get your gear and eat your mommy's home cooked dinner and get your asses to the gate by then."

Tazuna then opened the door and left the room in a stunned silence.

* * *

><p>Naruto finished his third bowl of miso ramen at Ichiraku's before he even thought about the mission. He supposed that he didn't need to really bring Kit along, but the fox was really looking forward to stretching his legs and running freely. Naruto smiled at the thought of Kit running freely and happily in fields and yipping happily at the blonde master who, through no fault of his own, forced Kit to live a sedentary lifestyle. A fox shouldn't be constrained to an apartment room.<p>

"Give me another bowl please," Naruto asked Ayame as he reached out for the money to pay for the day.

"Naruto, you know that you don't have to pay. Your money is spread thin as it is, with paying for your ninja gear and other stuff. My father would kill me if he knew that I was accepting your money." Ayame said, putting the bowl down in front of Naruto before waving away the money he held in front of her.

Naruto shook his head and dropped the money right on the counter before beginning to eat his fourth bowl today. Truth be told, Naruto didn't want to be treated like a charity case, it always made him feel like he had to pay the person back for treating him nicely.

Feeling good after the Ramen, Naruto got up to leave, but Ayame stopped him and put another bowl in front of him.

"I heard you finally got an escort mission, Naruto. Here, have a fifth bowl, on the house."

Naruto had a slightly suspicious thought that she had poisoned the bowl, but then he remembered that Ayame and her father had been nice to him ever since they saw him in an alleyway nearly starving to death from the time he tried to live on the streets. Though he was smart enough to know that he couldn't trust the two, as they only are nice to him out of pity and not good will, he couldn't help but think that without them, he might have run away from the village and got himself killed already, but that wouldn't really be a bad thing for Naruto, who had tried to kill himself multiple times and failed.

Never refusing a meal, Naruto sat back down and began to chow down while Ayame watched the boy. To her, he was kind of like the brother she never had. He helped her master the art of making Ramen by being her ever willing taste tester. Remembering him eating everything she put in front of him put a disturbing thought into her head. How much had Naruto been starved to eat everything that was put in front of him like that?

It seemed unreal that the villagers would treat the boy with the coldness that they dole out to him. Every time Naruto would come to eat here, the people would immediately leave, sometimes even leaving the bowls of steamy ramen on the counter. It was no secret what Naruto was claimed to be. Regardless of the Law that the Third Hokage passed, the rumors still spread and it even reached her ears. She was not ignorant of the fact that he was the nine-tailed fox. Yet, this didn't make her hate Naruto, but pity him more because she knew that Naruto didn't know why the villagers hated him and didn't know why he had no parents.

The sound of the ramen bowl hitting the counter woke Ayame out of her thoughts as she saw a satisfied look on Naruto's face. She smiled, it was a rarity to see any positive emotion on that boys face and it was a really good for her to know that he liked her cooking.

"Hey, Naruto," Ayame began, trying to get Naruto's attention, "Be careful, OK? I don't want to lose my favorite customer."

Naruto looked at her strangely before slowly nodding. He didn't really understand what he had to be careful about, seeing as it is just an escort mission, but he knew that she wanted him to agree and say that he will. Naruto wasn't that much of a cold and heartless bastard that he would ignore her request.

After the exchange between the two, Naruto left to go to his apartment. He needed to get ready for the mission, regardless of how easy it will be.

* * *

><p>The Hyuuga heiress was nervous and pleasantly happy when she found out she was going to go on a mission with her crush. True, she had never gotten the guts to confess to him, or even to talk to him comprehensively, but nevertheless; she couldn't control the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.<p>

She had two hours to prepare for any possible situation that she might get into with _him_ and she didn't know what exactly to take. Her frantic thoughts were dispelled when the door to her room slide open and Hiashi stepped into the room.

"Hinata, you wanted to speak to me?"

Hinata looked at her father and answered timidly; as she was afraid of how this discussion might go.

"Yes, Otou-san. I-I just re-cieved a C rank M-ission. I-I'll be leaving i-in two hours."

"When are you expected to come back?"

"Um...," Hinata fiddled with her fingers, trying to form the right sequence of words, "About t-two weeks."

Hiashi's eyes filled with disgust at his daughters meekness and his voice became cold.

"Do not humiliate the clan. You may not be a proper Hyuuga, but even a failure such as you should be able to complete a C rank mission."

With that stinging statement, the head of the Hyuuga clan departed from her room, leaving a saddened Hinata sitting there; contemplating how much of a disappointment she is to her father. She always strived to impress him, to get him to respect her as a future leader of the clan, but no matter how hard she tried, her frail frame and timid attitude failed to find acceptance in his eyes. In a weird way, she envied the boy she had a crush on, because she often wondered what it would be like to not have parents that treated her like dirt.

Sometimes she would pray to whatever deity or spiritual being out there to get rid of her father and give her the resolve she needed to face the boy she had fantasized about ever since he saved her from several bullies when they were children. Hinata knew better than to think that someday that wish would become a reality purely out of magic.

In times of great sadness, Hinata would often wonder what Naruto would do. She saw the two as kindred spirits, both thought of as failures. Both hated by the people they strive to impress. To be honest with herself, it was one of the reasons she was attracted to him, he was like her. Every time he would face hardships, she liked to be there, and see him overcome whatever came his way. She often dreamed of doing the same herself, and being by his side the next time he needed to overcome something that came in his way.

She saw this mission as a mere stepping stone to close the gap between the boy she loved and herself. It was more than just a C rank mission; it was a mission of proving herself to Naruto as well as to herself.

With that thought in mind, she resolved for what seems like the thousandth time to be braver and more bold than she currently was. She knew that it might be a useless endeavor, but she had the very naive hope that, with love, everything was possible.

* * *

><p>Naruto was packed and ready early. He didn't own much, and he had no real attachment to anything he owned. He could do without his frog wallet that Ayame and her dad gave her as well as the tattered comic books he managed to fish out of the trash.<p>

Kit was happily yipping while Naruto began to leave the apartment room. If there was anything Naruto really loved, it was the fox. He could let the world burn without batting an eyelash, but if the fox left him, or had gotten hurt, he would rip the person who did it a new asshole, as well as holes in other places.

"You ready to go?" Naruto asked the black pup as he fished out his keys from his pocket and locked the door behind the animal. Kit yipped at him with impatience as he rushed towards the street in the direction of the Main Gate of the village.

"Hey, slow down!" Naruto yelled at the black blur as he ran after his pet.

Panting, Naruto finally caught up with the Fox at the gate and he saw that Sasuke, Hinata, Ino, Sakura and Kurenai were waiting for him and the rest of the members of the mission. He also noticed that the drunk asshole Tazuna had yet to show up.

_'So he tells us to be here in two hours and he is late. I wonder if him and Kakashi-Sensei are related.'_

Kit was sitting right next to the group, happily enjoying all of the attention he was getting from the girls. Noticing his master walking towards him, he rushed towards Naruto and yipped excitedly.

"Naruto...? Is this fox yours?" Ino questioned, almost in disbelief. Kurenai and Sakura shared the same sentiment as Ino.

Naruto shot her a dark glance before replying in a cold voice.

"Yeah, he is, what's it to you?"

Ino shrugged and left it alone, seeing as Naruto clearly didn't want to talk about it to her. It was weird to see anything get excited over Naruto. Her parents always told her to stay away from the kid, as he is a bad influence although her parents never exactly explained why he was a bad influence.

Shikamaru arrived to break the awkward standoff between Naruto and Ino as he yawned and sat down on the ground. He decided to nap, knowing full well that Kakashi was going to be extremely late.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Tazuna arrived.

"Well, it seems like everybody but the white-haired guy is here. Let's go," Tazuna then started on his way out of the village before Kurenai stopped him.

"We should wait for Kakashi."

Tazuna looked at Kurenai and opened his mouth to talk, "Look babe, if you ninja folk are as fast you claim, it should be no problem to catch up to us, right? After all, I am an old man being guarded by a bunch of Snot-nosed brats who think they are tough shit because they have a headband and a woman with red eyes."

Kurenai's fist clenched at the comment, but she remained silent. Her jawline was stiff as she glared at Tazuna with a deep loathing.

"Look, babe. I am the client, and I hired you to escort me to my destination. I want to move, and when I want to move, you better move with me," Tazuna growled before he started walking again.

Kurenai looked at the three girls that made up cell 10 and devised a plan, "Girls, we'll be following in the tree line while cell 7 guards Tazuna-san directly. If anything happens we'll have the element of surprise on our side," She hardly expected any danger, but this mission provided good stealth training for the Genins and she was not going to pass up a learning opportunity because of the lack of danger.

Two minutes into the walk, Kakashi met up with them.

"Kakashi," Kurenai said as he showed up, "Why were you late?"

Looking up where Kurenai was masterfully hidden in the trees, Kakashi smiled.

"You know the path of life better than I do, Kurenai. Sometimes it leads you astray for hours on end."

* * *

><p>Naruto was getting bored. The Hokage was right when he said this would be a relatively easy mission, as there was no fighting at all. At the very least he thought his first time out of the village would be exciting, but so far the most interesting thing about this mission was the puddle they were approaching.<p>

It hadn't rained in weeks. Something was wrong. Looking around, he saw that he was the only one to notice it was there. Sasuke seemed focus on watching the brush for enemies, Tazuna was drinking sake while walking, Shikamaru was too bored to be paying attention to anything, Kit had wondered off to explore, and Kakashi was reading Icha Icha paradise.

Naruto kept his attention on the puddle. So far nothing was happening. Even once they had passed it, the puddle remained still. Then it happened.

A man came flying out of the puddle toward Kakashi, a chain keeping him connected to his partner who was waiting patiently for their prey to be ensnared.

"What the-!" Kakashi felt pain as the chain wrapped viciously around him, digging into his skin through his clothing.

The two figures pulled the chain, and Kakashi was torn to bits right in front of Naruto's eyes. Before anybody could react, the two figures appeared behind Naruto, and swiped at him with their poisoned claws, wounding him right above the forearm.

Before they could get any more strikes in, A shuriken wizzed right passed Naruto's face and caught the chain, pinning it to a tree. Sasuke then threw a Kunai to secure the chain before moving in to attack.

Releasing the chain that connected them, the two split up: one continued to engage Naruto and Sasuke while the other streamlined for Tazuna, who was now being guarded by Shikamaru and the full team of cell 10, "**Shadow Possession jutsu!**" Shikamaru's shadow extended out and caught the assailant in his tracks.

"The hell!?" the assailant tried to move but could do nothing as a flurry of shuriken and kunai from the female genin flew at him. The projectiles embedded themselves throughout his body, blood streamed from his wounds, his body falling slack as Shikamaru released his jutsu.

Naruto and Sasuke both dodged attack after attack from the older ninja using kunai to block his poisoned gauntlet. Sasuke tried to spin out of the way of another attack but felt an immense pain thunder through her back and knew she'd been struck, gritting her teeth she continued her spin and jammed her kunai into the enemy's should blade he let out his own yell of pain. Naruto, seeing an opening at last, moved in for the kill.

Before Naruto could counter anything, or even attack, the other nin was closed line by Kakashi, whom had miraculously come back from the dead.

Feeling an immense pain in his forearm, Naruto noticed that Sakura, Ino, and the rest were tending to Sasuke's wounds. No one even thought to tend to Naruto's poisoned injury as well.

"Sasuke has been poisoned, quickly disinfect her wound and feed her the anti-poison pills."

While everyone was busy tending to the black haired princess, Kakashi looked at both of the attackers.

"These men are Chuunin, this shouldn't be a C rank mission." Kakashi said before looking at Naruto.

"You ok?" The masked ninja said with mild concern as he remembered that the blonde was also poisoned.

The girls looked at Naruto, whom they had completely forgotten, and stared as he stabbed the wound with a Kunai while looking over to them with the coldest stare they had ever seen.

Naruto bled out the poison while keeping his glare completely focused on the girls.

"I'm fucking fine, Sensei."

Kakashi looked at Tazuna with an intense stare as he addressed him.

"So, are you going to tell us what this mission is really about, or are we going to have to abandon you?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN Note: Hey guys and girls. Shintaro here. just finished this chapter and it is beta-ed. There might be some mistakes in there, seeing as I spent all night finalizing this chapter and conversing with Ronin as to what should be added or edited. Please forgive us(me in particular) for the late releases, life came by and gave me a curve ball. ****I wish I could update as soon as I can but I have the holidays to prepare for as well as family to visit. speaking off, happy holidays and a merry Christmas from me.  
><strong>

**Please review and give us the support you think we deserve. It may seem slow and without any action now, but the Wave Arc is a really important stepping stone for this fanfiction, seeing as we are taking a drastic approach to how it is going to be done.  
><strong>

**Also, vote on poll that is located on my profile, it helps us know which of the four Princess's you like.  
><strong>

**My co-author and good friend The Revolutionary Ronin has some really good stories that I think many of you might enjoy. He has a Naruto/Fairy Tail fic that he is currently rewriting, and a One Piece fic that I can personally say is the best piece of writing I have seen on here in a long time. They were so good my girlfirend got hooked on them. I highly recommend you check him out.  
><strong>

**I am sorry for the plug, but I really think he deserves some more recognition.  
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**P.S Hinata is back into the Harem. originally we planned to not include her, but due to me assuming more creative control over this project, I have installed her back in.  
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**Question of the chapter: Do you want the village to suffer for what they did to Naruto, or should he spare them? Why?  
><strong>


	7. Shattered By the Demon of the Mist

**Chapter Five:** **Shattered by the Demon of the Mist**

"Kakashi, what the hell!? Why didn't you step in sooner? They aren't ready for something like this," Kurenai was beyond displeased that her girls had taken a life on their first mission outside the village. She feared that something like this might hurt the girl's mental state. Unlike the others villages, Konoha doesn't try to make them into mindless murderers, but to be soldiers with heart that kill when necessary, but not needlessly.

"I didn't see you stepping in Kurenai," Kakashi said, chuckling slightly, but maintaining his glance at Tazuna, showing he had no real regard for her opinion. "Now," Kakashi suddenly turned serious, "Are you going to answer me? I'd hate for you to have to fight the next assassin on your own. Once they find out these two have failed, they will send a stronger one to finish the job, and seeing as two of my students are injured, who are risking their lives for free by the way, you better have a good answer."

Tazuna was sweating bullets, his nervous glances darting around the area, stalling for an excuse. Taking a deep, he started to talk.

"Please, you have to help me. Thousands of lives depend on me."

"That's not the answer I was looking for, and you don't want me to find out from the assassin, do you?" Kakashi's voice was gruff. Trying to scare Tazuna into giving him the information he wanted, he reached into his pack slowly. Tazuna's eyes followed his hand closely before he finally cracked.

"Alright," Tazuna began, "I'll tell you, but I can't do it right now. This isn't the best place to discuss such things. Can you wait for just a bit longer until we get closer to the Wave?"

With a smile on his masked face, Kakashi pulled out his favorite read, Icha Icha Paradise, and he began to flip to the page he left off at.

"Alright, we will continue to escort you until then," Kakashi said, his voice laden with smugness as he had gotten one over on Tazuna.

"Smug bitch," Tazuna muttered under his breath, but he was smiling. He was quite impressed with what the White Hair had done. The bridge builder then noticed that the assassin that Kakashi had capture was starting to wake up.

"Ah, he is awake," Kakashi said as he approached the Chuunin. Meizu's eyes fluttered open as he became aware of his surroundings. Blurry at first, his eyesight began to focus on the masked man that was in his field of vision.

"Well, well, Chuunin," Kakashi said, looking into his face as he stood right in front of him, "Do you mind telling me who your contractor was?" He smiled at the ninja, and kept a happy facade. Before the Meizu could do anything or even say anything, Kakashi spoke up again.

"You know, if you don't tell me, I might just kill you," Kakashi said, bending down right in front of him, smiling. Meizu tried to move his body, but he couldn't find the energy to do anything.

"Sorry, but being a Jounin, I think I know a thing or two about how to drain the energy from my opponents."

Naruto watched with faint amazement. He had always thought Kakashi a washed up ninja who couldn't teach to save his life, but Kakashi was now showing his strength. Naruto wanted that power. It was a useful skill, and Naruto was very keen on learning it. He might have an actual reason to keep Kakashi around besides keeping up appearances.

"I-I Ain't telling ya nothing!" The Chuunin said, fearful of the masked ninja.

"Are you sure? Think of how much..._pain_ I will put you through if you don't tell me. Are you completely sure you want to live through that?" Kakashi looked at Meizu, and his look softened.

"You know, I will pay you double what your employer is paying you. This man," Kakashi pointed to Tazuna, "is very rich, and he can afford it. How else do you think he got two teams? I'll even let your brother go."

"Wa-" Tazuna was starting to say, but a look from Kakashi told him to be silent.

Hearing nothing from the Chuunin, Kakashi sighed and began to reach into his Kunai pouch.

"Sorry it had to be this way, but you know how the life of a ninja is."

Kakashi brought the Kunai towards Meizu's face and looked deep into his eyes. He touched the fine edge on Meizu's neck, and held it there for a second before he began to...

"Stop! Alright, I'll tell you!" Meizu was sweating, but his voice was the true indicator of his fear.

"There we go. Now, tell us who your employer is." Kakashi said, removing the kunai from Meizu's neck.

"OK, just please don't kill me. His name is Ga-," Meizu's words were interrupted by the sound of kunai being thrown. Meizu went limp as the kunai hit his neck, and he slumped onto the ground.

For what seemed like minutes, there was no movement, only the stunned faces of the Genin that had observed the event. Sasuke got into a defensive stance, her eyes focused towards the direction of where the kunai was thrown.

"Whoever is was is gone," Kakashi said as he looked up from the body, "Probably killed this one to ensure that we would remain in the dark as much as possible."

Kakashi walked over to the other dead brother and examined him closely. He then proceeded to search the body for anything that might help with finding out more about who they worked with.

Kakashi's eyes remained on the body as he addressed the girls.

"Congratulations, you just killed somebody."

The silence after the statement was dense. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata couldn't believe that they had just taken a life. They stood in stunned silence while Kakashi was looking at them.

"B-but," Ino began, stuttering nervously as she stared at the corpse of the Chuunin, "We... We _couldn't_... I mean, we... Oh my G- we didn't mean to-"

"This isn't a game. This is life or death. He isn't going to get back up just because you feel bad. You'll have to live with the fact that you ended a life. His hopes and dreams are over because of you. And you'll be expected to do it again and again in name of Country of Village. You wanted to be ninja and this is being ninja. Killing and being killed. That's what you wanted to be. Killers."

"Kakashi!" Kurenai was appalled at the way the Jounin was acting, "They are just children."

"As soon as they put on that headband, Kurenai, they stopped being children. You should know better," Kakashi said. Finding nothing on the Chuunin that was of use, he stood up.

"Oh, and Kurenai, the reason why I chose not to step in the fight earlier was because I needed to know if the ninja that attacked us were after Tazuna or not."

"We should probably head out, we don't want any more trouble than we can handle right now," Kakashi spoke while beginning to walk onwards.

"Girls, get back in formation," wanting to take their minds off of killing, Kurenai added, "Watch out for anything out of the ordinary. If you do see anything, give the signal."

Breaking eye contact with the body, the girls exchanged looks with each other, but they took their positions in the trees; leaving Kakashi, Naruto, Shikamaru, Tazuna, and Sasuke the only ones traveling on the road.

0o0o0o0

Ito Akihiro flitted through the trees with immense speed. He was getting back to his employer to inform him of the Demon brothers' fate. In his mind, Akihiro was coming up with a story to tell Gato. He didn't see the need to tell Gato the truth about what had really went down, as all he needed to know was that the two had been killed, but there was a person who needed to know.

After several minutes of nonstop traveling, the merc arrived at his destination. Gato's complex was very easy to spot in the Land of Waves as it was the only building that looked like it was in good condition. It was a towering structure with Gato's company logo on it, Gato Company. Akihiro entered through the back door and went through the rooms before being stopped by one of Gato's personal bodyguards, Waraji.

The Sword wielding bodyguard stopped the merc, "State your business."

"Oh come on man! You know exactly why I am here. I can't believe you have to stop me every time I come in," Akihiro grumbled he hated this "Security" shit.

"Humph," the bodyguard snorted, clearly amused that he annoyed the merc so much, "you know the rules, and nobody gets in unless I hear a good reason."

"You are giving me a good reason to kick your ass right now," Akihiro retorted smugly, very proud at his remark, "I am here to report the fate of the Demon Brothers as well as give him Intel on who is guarding the old man."

"What did you say basta-" Waraji started, but he was cut off by Gato's voice.

"Let him in."

The ninja looked at the samurai smugly while walking past him. Akihiro loved getting one over on that son of a bitch. There was some history and bad blood between the two when Akihiro was young. Shutting the door, the brown haired merc looked at Gato.

The man called Gato was shorter than most, but he gave off a feeling of power. That power is not to be confused with strength as Gato wasn't strong or at least not strong by himself. He gave off influence, and he had a deadly charisma that put fear into people.

"Well, what happened?" Gato asked, sitting in a chair. He hands were together and the fingers were connected. "By the looks of it, those bastards didn't make it. If they did, they would be here collecting the money."

"Yeah, they died. The drunk got some leaf ninja to guard him, two Jounin and six Genin by the looks of it," Akihiro said looking straight at Gato.

"Hmm, interesting... How did he get that much money to pay for two Jounin and six Genin...? Surely he doesn't have that much money to pay for that amount of ninja."

"It seems that one cell is doing this mission for free. I mean, how crazy are they to do a mission like this for free!" Akihiro almost laughed out loud, but the look he got from Gato stopped him cold.

"Well, it seems that we might have to send you and _him _in," Gato visibly shuddered at the thought of dealing with that man. He secretly had hoped that the Demon brothers would be enough just because he didn't want to discuss terms with The Demon of the Mist.

"Hey," Akihiro started, "you know Zabs alone won't be able to beat the two Jounin and six Genin. Some of the Genin are strong as well. I want to tag along."

Gato nodded, giving him permission, "He is in the basement training. Get him, and set up an ambush in the Land of the Waves territory."

Smirking slightly, Akihiro exited the room, and walked past Waraji. He was heading downstairs, to the basement.

Even before entering the room, Akihiro could sense that it was some intense training. He opened the door to reveal a stack of dummies that were cut in half, decapitated, and some with kunai still stuck in them.

"What do you want?" The so-called Demon of the Hidden Mist said as he took out a kunai he had just thrown into the dummy.

"The Demon Brothers were killed; Gato wants to set up an ambush for the target and the ninja that are protecting him."

"How many?" Zabuza said suddenly, starting to smile.

"Two leaf Jounin and six leaf Genin."

"Consider them dead."

"Whoa, hold up man. I just want you to know that I am coming along as well to help."

"Don't get in my way."

Akihiro smiled, "Now that's the Zabs I know!"

Zabuza shot him a look that threatened death, "Don't call me that again."

0o0o0o0

"Escort me to my house, I will tell you what this is all about there," Tazuna said as he and the ninjas entered the land of waves.

They were walking for minutes before Naruto began to get a strange feeling.

Naruto sensed something, it was brief, and it was weak, but he had a feeling that something was hiding... In that bush! Naruto instantly threw a kunai towards the bush, alerting Sasuke and Shikamaru of possible danger. After a few minutes nothing happened, which surprised Naruto as he for sure thought somebody was there.

Cautiously approaching the bush, Naruto saw that there was absolutely nothing there. He had made a mistake. Not only did he feel bad himself, but he made a big deal out of it, effectively wasting their time as well as his.

"Naruto, what was that? Was there anybody there?" Sasuke asked the boy as she gotten out a kunai and stepped closer in Tazuna's direction. When she saw the boy shaking his head she relaxed a little.

"Man, Troublesome." Shikamaru said as he lowered his guard.

There it was again, the presence Naruto felt. This time it was in a bush on the other side of the road. Being more cautious now, he waited patiently and quickly threw the kunai. This time it hit something, as there was the sound of bushes rustling and a sudden stop.

The team was prepared for any possible ninja attack, but what Naruto pulled out was no such thing. It was a white rabbit. Naruto had hit it with a kunai and the white coat was now tainted with blood. A sudden yip escaped from Kit, who had returned quickly to see what the commotion was about.

Naruto had no idea what to do, as he had no experience with dying animals. He looked to Sasuke.

"Naruto, there is nothing we can do," Kakashi said, stopping to look at the boy, "Get the kunai and continue on-," The masked Jounin noticed something strange about the rabbit... It had white fur. Rabbits only grow white fur in the winter, but it's not winter.

"This rabbit is domestic."

_'If this rabbit is domestic, what is it doing here?' _Kakashi thought for a moment before his eyes widened, _'Could it be a sub-'_

"GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled suddenly, realizing what the rabbit entailed for the group.

It was not a moment too soon. As soon as Kakashi had said that, a HUGE sword spun above them through the air and embedded itself in a tree in front of Kakashi.

"Hmm, good reflexes, but that is to be expected when you are facing one of the best ninja of the leaf, Kakashi of the Sharingan."

_'Sharingan?' _The three Genin thought. Sasuke looked at Kakashi with suspicious eyes. Only a select few of the Uchiha clan possessed that bloodline.

_'Could he be...!?'_ The raven haired princess thought, her eyes still focused on her Sensei.

A figure appeared, standing on the hilt of the huge sword. The figure was of one Zabuza Momochi. His back was facing the team, and he was looking over his shoulder at Kakashi.

Kakashi tensed, he knew this man. Zabuza was the monster of the hidden mist. He was raised to kill anybody, even his own classmates.

"Zabuza."

The Demon of the Hidden Mist surveyed the team and found that there were three Genin. Akihiro said that there were six and 2 Jounin so that meant that the rest were hiding somewhere.

Zabuza threw ten kunai in ten separate directions in order to draw the rest of the ninja out, "Come out come out, I know there are more of you."

Cell 10 dropped from the trees and into the road between Kakashi and Tazuna.

"Ha! See Zabs, I told you there was a hottie here," Akihiro said as he appeared right beside Zabuza, "Red-eyed beauty she is."

Kurenai tightened her grip on the kunai as she observed Akihiro looking at her with a look that did not bode well for her, "Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Go into the swastika position, protect Tazuna with your life."

"Follow their lead, cell 7," Kakashi said, his eyes still on Zabuza, "If half of what I heard about you is true, I can't beat you in my current state."

Naruto saw Kakashi's left had reaching up to his headband as he began to lift it.

"Hottie, you are going to battle me," Akihiro said, eyeing her Genin team," you might want to leave the kiddies behind, you don't want them to die do you?"

"Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, whatever you do, do not leave formation, do not join the battle, do not leave Tazuna," Kakashi said, revealing his Sharingan to Zabuza, "Lets fight."

Kurenai had thrown a kunai at Akihiro, "Same goes for you Cell 10."

Zazbuza grabbed his sword and pulled it out of the tree. The Demon of the Mist then landed on top of the water and began to do a hand sign. Kakashi observed the action, his Sharingan focused on the movements of the hand, analyzing the movements.

"**Hidden Mist Jutsu**."

Suddenly a mist enveloped the leaf ninja, and soon they began to lose their sense of location.

0o0o0o0

Kurenai charged Akihiro, relying on her Chakra sensing to locate his position through the dense mist. With her kunai in hand, prepared for an attack. Suddenly, the mist cleared, and she was in a different location.

"Ya like it? I thought it would be better to split you from the group, that way we can have some real fun," Akihiro said, appearing right in front of her.

**"Water Kunai Replication,"** The ninja opposing Kurenai said, giving the appropriate hand-signs. Ten Kunai appeared in his hand as he smiled.

"I ain't sure what you leaf folks do to prepare for the life of a ninja," Akihiro suddenly threw the kunai at the woman," But, my village put me through hell to train me to become a deadly killer."

The ten kunai went straight for the Jounin, who had prepared her hand signs as soon as she saw them. Right as they were about to hit, Kurenai replaced herself with a log, and hid herself on a tree branch.

**"Illusion Clone Jutsu,"** The Genjustu master declared, sending in a clone into the battle while she maneuvered in the trees to get into a good position. Finding the perfect spot to survey the assassin, she watched him going up against the illusion clone.

Being that the clone is merely an illusion, it can't inflict any amount of damage to the opponent, but it is quiet good at looking and sounding like the real deal. The clone was dodging all that Akihiro could deal out.

"Come on! Fight won't you!" Akihiro said, "I am tired of you dodging!"

Kurenai smiled as she prepared the kunai. Attaching paper bombs to the bladed weapons, she kept observing the clone weaving around the opponent, keeping just it of reach of the punches.

When she finally finished adding the trip wire, she threw the kunai and they imbedded themselves into the group, effectively making a tripwire mine, just waiting to be set off by an unknowing victim.

The unknowing victim in this case would be Akihiro who was too busy focusing on the clone to be paying attention to his surroundings. He was getting frustrated that he couldn't hit her, and that she wouldn't fight back.

He kept throwing those punches, first he tried to give an uppercut, but the clone dodged with grace and kept out of his reach.

_'This bitch...,'_ Akihiro thought as he was continuously giving his barrage of punches, some that seemed to simply phase through her as she was too fast to be caught. He gave her a couple quick jabs to the abdomen, but again, it seemingly phased right through her, almost as if he was merely punching a ghost.

After a few more instances of that, he soon caught on. The Kurenai he was facing right now was simply a clone. Ignoring the clone, he now started to scan the treetops, deducing that the Jounin must be hiding in there somewhere.

"Hey, sending in a clone to distract me is weak, are you sure you even deserve the title of Jounin? I think the way you fight is rather childish." Akihiro said as he was still observing the treetops. Suddenly, a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it landed right near Akihiro's feet. Noting the paper bombs, Akihiro moved backwards, towards the tripwire.

It was all according to her plan. Sure, the clone thing was a bit unexpected because she thought it would gain her more time for an adequate strategy to put this man down. Seeing that time dissipate as the Assassin saw through her clone she threw the kunai in order to draw him towards the tripwire to seal his fate. She waited patiently as Akihiro's left foot caught the wire and broke it, setting off the paper bombs.

The explosion left nothing but a burned patch of grass. Kurenai thought this was strange, seeing as the explosion was nowhere near enough to completely disintegrate the body.

"Nice try, but the only thing you managed to defeat was my water clone that I created while we were still in the mist," a familiar voice said as Kurenai felt the sting of a kunai piercing her back.

Almost on instinct, Kurenai shifted her body and moved her legs to kick him away. The action succeeded as Akihiro flung back, stunned that the Jounin pulled off an attack when injured.

A smile appeared on Akihiro's face nonetheless, seeing as he had stabbed her with a kunai coated with a special poison that slowly depleted chakra. Without proper treatment, she would be dead in twelve hours. That didn't stop Kurenai from throwing her last couple kunai at the Assassin. Immediately after throwing the kunai, she began to perform a series of hand signs.

**"Genjutsu: Trees of a Million Sufferings."**

Akihiro felt trees suddenly envelope him as his eyes lingered on Kurenai's smug expression. As soon as he felt it, he knew it was over for him. The tree branches turned into spears as they impaled Akihiro in various places. He felt like his body was constantly being stripped of skin as twigs, stubs and full size branches pierced his body.

Akihiro wanted to scream, but a branch had shoved itself in his mouth and burst through the back of his throat. He remained completely silent while the illusion master approached him.

Kurenai picked up a discarded kunai and approached the victim of her Genjustu. He was completely rigid, his mouth hanging open to sound out a silent scream. His eyes followed her, as he was conscious of her movements, but he couldn't do anything about it. He was bound in her web of illusion, and he had wasted all of his energy fighting a clone.

The Red-Eyed Jounin was breathing heavy as she stumbled up to Akihiro. Her back injury paining her greatly, she raised the kunai slowly.

"I am sorry, but you must die," Kurenai said as she prepared to end his life.

"Wait-wait, please...," Akihiro started, mustering enough energy to talk, but barely whispering, "I-I don't want to die... Please."

The begging words did nothing for him as Kurenai had resolved to kill him, even if it costs her own life.

"P-please!" He said desperately, "I'll tell you everything. Please! Spare me! I don't wanna die!"

"There is nothing you can say that will ever spare your life," Kurenai said as she pressed the kunai against his neck.

"I don't wanna... Don't ki-,"

In one brief, fluid motion, it was over. The begging stopped, and Kurenai had won.

Kurenai turned on her heel and made her way back to the others. Each step was more difficult to take than the last, the stinging in her back spreading. Her eyes widened in recognition, "_Poison. That damn!_"

Knowing she didn't have much time, Kurenai pushed on to the others in time to see a masked nin disappear with the body of Zabuza limp, dead, in his grasp.

Kakashi looked worse for wear but was fine overall. Swinging her ruby eyes to the Genin she saw that he team was still in one piece, guarding Tazuna still. Kakashi's Genin looked rough up and exhausted, "What happened Kakashi?"

"Hunter-nin," Kurenai nodded her head in understanding.

"And the Genin?"

"They're fine. A few close calls but they proved themselves today. All of them," Kurenai couldn't help but notice Kakashi's nod at the blond Genin who had separated himself from the others, holding his headband in his hands before he re-tied it to his forehead.

"We shou-" Kurenai clutched at her heart as she fell to her knees, her three Genin rushing to her side.

"SENSEI!" all three of them screamed at the same time, Kurenai's back wound finally revealed to the group.

Kakashi was beside her in a flash and quickly inspected her injury and glared, "Poisoned. We'll have to move fast. Cell 7 form up on Tazuna. We're moving out now!"

0o0o0o0

Foregoing the shadowing plan, cell 10 walked in formation around Tazuna. Kurenai, nearly unconscious, was leaning on Kakashi, who was in front of Tazuna.

Tazuna's house came into sight as Naruto gazed ahead in the distance. The two story cottage themed house looked pretty normal to Naruto. He had seen similar types of houses on the outskirts of Konoha when he went wandering around the village bored out of his mind. A very pleasing smelled filled the air as soon as they got closer to the house, and a couple of stomachs ached to find out exactly what was tempting them so badly.

"Ah, my daughter must be cooking her best dish," Tazuna said with a smiling look. While he had his trusty bottle of Sake in hand, he had been dulling the hunger he had. Now that he was completely out of the liquid courage, his stomach rumbled for the amazing cuisine that his daughter was preparing in his home.

The bridge builder turned towards the ninja escort team and said, "My daughter is the sweetest thing on this planet, I am sure that she will be gracious enough to let you eat from my table, after all you did save my ass."

They walked up to the front door of the house, the smell was intoxicating. It filled the air around them with a pleasing aroma that multiplied as soon as Tazuna opened the door.

"Princess, I'm h-," Suddenly, Tazuna received a frying pan to the face.

"You stupid idiot! Do you want to die?! Why'd you leave when you know _that man_ is after-?!" The feminine voice stopped in her tracks when she spotted the people that were accompanying her father.

Tsunami bowed her head in embarrassment as she showed a bit of pink on the skin.

"I am sorry, had I known you they were there..."

"You wouldn't have tried to rearrange my face with the frying pan?" Tazuna said, a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Tsunami, these are the Konoha ninja that were escorting me back. With them, I was as safe as if you were guarding me. Right now, they are hungry."

She looked at the group, and they looked at her. Stepping aside, she let them into her home.

"Please come in."

The rest entered, and Tsunami lead Kakashi towards a spare bedroom where they can put Kurenai while she rested and was treated.

Naruto lingered outside, always hesitating to step into unknown territory. The people of Konoha also let him into their home sometimes. Often, he had to nurse the newly formed cuts that he received when he was in there.

He learned to never let his guard down around people, even if they seemed like the most caring people. The world was filled with snakes that want to cause nothing but pain and suffering to those whom depend on them.

Stepping through the doorway, he automatically glanced around cautiously. By this time, all of the chairs were placed out, and they barely managed to squeeze around the table. Naruto took his seat and looked at Tazuna who was talking to Tsunami.

The room soon filled with an appetizing aroma as the meal was placed out in front of them. On the plate in front of Naruto, there was some salmon cut up and seasoned with some spices that were native to the land of the Waves and a nice hot broth of liquid that Naruto had never seen before.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone but Naruto said, as they dug in. Naruto hesitated; he didn't know what this food was. Since he was on a tight budget, he rarely ate anything that wasn't ramen. His eyes glanced around at the others, trying to figure out how to properly eat what was in front of him.

He observed Ino dipping the Salmon in the liquid and eating it. A satisfied face appeared on her face as soon as she started chewing. Naruto copied the action, and as soon as he put the fish in his mouth, he got a sudden taste of something sweet. He continued chewing and soon found out that the sweetness didn't last long as the taste changed into salmon.

However; Tsunami did not cook enough so she had to go back into the kitchen and prepare something quick while the rest ate what she had planned to serve to herself and Inari.

The blonde didn't mind, he was busy savoring the food that was in front of him. He cut up the salmon into tiny pieces, and dipped them in the liquid. Enjoying each tiny morsel, he made what he had last.

Soon after Naruto finished, Tsunami had brought out some bowls of rice...

0o0o0o0

After all the eating was done, Tazuna cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Alright, I think I owe you an explanation," he nervously glanced at Kakashi, "I am in danger for trying to save the people from the clutches of a power hungry and very deadly man named Gato. He runs a shipping company, but his business is a front for all of the illegal "cargo" he ships to organizations everywhere. Because the Wave is such a small and isolated island, he set his eyes on taking it, and within a matter of months he completely decimated the country's economy."

Tazuna was looking at the faces of the ninja while he told them the story of how Gato was sucking the life out of the country and using threats and dead bodies to get work for free. Sakura, Hinata, and Ino shared a look of horror.

"Why is he after your life?" Kakashi questioned, his look focused on the old man.

Tazuna took a deep breath and replied, "I am currently building a bridge that will connect us to the Fire Nation. If that bridge is complete, we will have absolutely no need for Gato or his company. I am in charge of the project and if I get killed, I fear that the men that are helping me will lose their will to do so. Please, you have to protect me for just a bit longer until I can complete the bridge. It is nearly done, but I am not sure it will be complete without me."

"They won't do you any good. He will kill you just like he killed Dad."

A young boy was standing in the kitchen doorway, tears starting to form.

"Inari..." Tazuna said as he looked at the boy. His eyes saddened at what he said.

"Please Grandpa, don't go against that man. Please... I don't want to lose you like I lost my dad. He tried to go against _him_ and he died!"

"Oh, Inari... I can't give up. Besides, I won't die!" Tazuna said, "I have these wonderful ninja guarding me."

Inari shook his head; he didn't believe Tazuna as he began to fully cry.

"They don't understand! They are from a powerful country... They don't understand what it is like to have nothing! They have a good li-"

"Shut your damn mouth."

Everyone turned their head to look at Naruto.

"What the hell are you thinking Na-" Ino began, but she was coldly cut off by the blonde.

"You know nothing," His voice was cold; his eyes were filled with anger as he stared at the boy with the deepest loathing. "You know nothing about me or anybody here. What gives YOU the damn right to say that about anyone of us? Is it because you lost your precious daddy? Well boo fucking hoo. At least you HAD a dad, SOME people _aren't_ THAT lucky. _Some_ people have no family whatsoever. _Some _people had to live on their own from the very beginning, and at night, those people would often wonder where their parents were and why they weren't with them. Don't you fucking cry for your dad. You don't fucking know what it is to have nothing. How would you like living alone without anybody? How would you like being unloved and hated for something you never even did? How would you like being picked on by your peers just because their parents told them to stay away from you? Don't you dare act like you know what it is like to lose everything. Some people would kill to have your life, so be grateful and quit your bitching."

Almost immediately, Naruto got up and stormed out of the house; slamming the door behind him, leaving the rest in a stunned silence. Kit, who had made himself comfortable in the corner of the kitchen ran out after his master.

The others were sitting still, not a single person moved. The only sound that could be heard was Inari trying to stop crying. Tazuna and Tsunami shared a look of confusion.

"I'm sorry for Naruto's outburst," Kakashi said, addressing the two, "Naruto has had a hard life. He's had to grow up on his own. He's never had any friends and he often gets forgotten. After all that has happened to him, it's no surprise he would yell at your son."

The girls shared a look of guilt. They just how imagined how Naruto must have felt when their first instinct was to tend to Sasuke and they totally overlooked the blonde. They remembered the look the blonde gave them while he cut the poison out of his system. The look was of anger, but it concealed a sadness that Naruto would never reveal to the girls.

"Are we just going to let him go?" Sakura questioned her teammates. She only got weak looks from the two. Sasuke was bowing her head, both hands were balled into fists as she replayed Naruto's outburst in her head over and over again.

"Hinata?" Sakura said expectantly. The Hyuuga looked over at Sakura nervously before twiddling her thumbs in anguish. She desperately wanted to go, but her insecurities held her back

"I can't believe you guys..." Sakura said, losing her patience as she got up and tried to find Naruto.

0o0o0o0

Naruto, with hands in his pockets, walked down the streets of the village. He looked down at his feet, never tempting a look at the other people passing him by. Kit was right next to his master, cautiously looking at the passersby for any clue as to what they might do to the blonde.

The Jinchuriki felt angry. What Inari had said really set him off. He shouldn't have let it get to him, but it was just infuriating that a little kid was judging him when he didn't know anything. He had enough of it. He was constantly being neglected, rejected, and pushed around by whoever chose to fuck with him.

While on his walk, Naruto surveyed the shops that lined the streets. Avoiding the people, he saw a weapons shop. Deciding that it might not be a bad idea for him to at least go in and look, he stepped into the shop and browsed the displays.

Kunai adorned the room as Naruto saw many variants of the generic design. Somewhere relatively simple while others looked as ornate as can possibly be. His eyes trailed off towards some of the other displays and he looked. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, but he wanted to get his mind off of what happened back at Tazuna's house.

His eyes scanned the room and they fell upon a sword of complete beauty. It was completely black, with a red hilt. Its beauty seemed to call Naruto and it drew him.

The store clerk looked at Naruto as his eyes were trained on the sword. Like a vulture ready to swoop onto a dead carcass, he approached the display with a smile.

"Made from the finest of metals," the clerk began, as he stood next to Naruto. Noticing the headband that Naruto was wearing he continue , "It was made to be the perfect tool for a ninja. It has a threatening look with a thin and sleek design that will captivate your opponent before killing them."

"How much?" The boy asked, wondering how much this piece of utter beauty might cost.

"Usually, it would cost about 3,000 Ryu, but since with was imported, Gato has got to tax this pretty steeply," The clerk smiled at Naruto encouragingly, "For you, I will try my best to get you the best deal...How about 3,500 Ryu?"

Naruto couldn't possibly hope to buy that wonderful, ornate, lethal sword as he did not have anywhere near that amount. He did, however; have a fox.

Kit moved around the displays, careful not to get caught. They had done this several times before when he needed to steal some food to eat. Naruto distracted the sales clerk by taking him to some other displays and questioning him about the designs and functions of this variant of kunai.

"Ah," The sales clerk replied, "This is a Fire Swirl Kunai. It has a Fire Chakra infused tip that allows for a detonated incendiary explosion without the hassle of setting up paper bombs. It also explodes on impact with skin and is guaranteed to burn your enemies to the crisp."

"And this one?" Naruto motioned to one that had a three pronged tip.

"Yes, this is an approximate replica kunai used by the Yellow Flash."

"Approximate replica?" Naruto asked, as Kit started to climb up to the sword display.

"Well, yes. No one knows exactly what the kunai looks like. Many kunai collectors would give their children to have that kunai. Unfortunately no one knows how the kunai was even constructed. No plans have been found."

"What is so special about this kunai?" Naruto asked, keeping the clerk focused on the kunai while Kit nudged the display open.

"According to some reliable sources, the kunai holds the key to the Yellow Flash's movement technique," the clerk was clearly showing off his smarts as he was then moved along by Naruto to another design.

Kit grabbed the sword with his mouth and placed it in the scabbard Adjacent to the sword. Then, he picked up the scabbard with the sword in it and dropped down. Kit then moved towards the exit while Naruto was busy asking questions with the clerk.

"I'm done, thank you." Naruto said to the clerk, before moving to the exit. When he opened the door, Kit bolt out, sword in mouth. Naruto waved to the clerk, smiling.

Walking back towards the direction of Tazuna's house, Naruto took the scabbard and the sword out of Kit's mouth and held it in his hand. Deciding he wanted to try the sword out, he went into a wooded area near Tazuna's house he picked a tree and started hacking. It wasn't really training, but he felt the need to slash something with his new weapon.

Naruto kept slashing and slashing, people's faces swamp through his head as some of the scars on his body began to hurt, almost as if the wounds reopened. Soon, the tree he had been slashing was losing bark as Naruto slashed and slashed. He found it soothing to slash at the tree. His anger at Inari evaporated and after a few more slashes his anger at the girls for forgetting him was soon gone.

He wondered if his anger at the lead would be gone if he slashed the tree enough. The tree would probably not withstand that amount of slashes.

**"**_**Use that anger, Naruto. Use it to kill all those that stand in your way.**_**"**

A chill ran up Naruto's spine as he stopped his continuous slashing. He looked around, but found nothing.

_**"Seek me. Close your eyes and seek me.**_**"**

The voice was familiar to Naruto, he had heard it in his dreams, whispering, taunting, and enticing him. Silence filled the air soon after that. Standing completely still, the blonde Jinchuriki took a deep breath, loosened his body, and closed his eyes.

0o0o0o0

_**"Very good." **_

Naruto opened his eyes to reveal a very different environment. The natural scenery was replaced with cold, urban bricks in what seemed to be a sewer tunnel.

"Where am I?" The boy said, looking around.

_**"Welcome to your true home, Naruto."**_

The voice rang out and echoed throughout the tunnel, causing Naruto flinch. Right in front of the boy there was a huge gate. Enormous in its size, Naruto couldn't fathom why somebody could have possibly constructed it. The thought didn't last though, as a more pressing matter took precedence.

"I was in the woods, and now I am here. How?" Naruto asked.

_**"You brought yourself here, human. Approach me."**_

Naruto was confused. The voice came from everywhere. He looked around before the voice spoke again.

_**"Approach the gate."**_

Naruto did as he was told and stepped towards the huge gate. As soon as he began to approach it, two giant eyes began to stare at him. He saw the outline of something monstrous.

He saw the Kyuubi.

_**"Naruto, I have been watching. I have seen what those villagers have done to you."**_

Naruto's balled his hands into fists at the mention of his past. He was looking at the two giant orbs that, in turn, were staring back at him.

_**"Release me Naruto. I will kill every single one of them. Just release me, and you will be avenged."**_

"No."

The answer was almost immediate. Naruto flatly refused. The giant eyes flared with anger before Naruto continued, "I want to do it myself."

Naruto stepped forward once more, "I want them to pay for what they have done to me."

_**"Very well Naruto, but with me sealed inside you, you won't be able to destroy the village."**_

Naruto gave the Kyuubi a confused look as he remembered the villagers talking about how the Kyuubi nearly destroyed the village.

_**"The Yondiame sealed half of my Chakra into you, while the other half was sealed into him. I am only half the demon I used to be."**_

"The what do I do?" Naruto asked, ever since he had known about the thing that was sealed inside of him, he had been planning on using its power to level the village.

_**"You gain allies using any means necessary."**_

"Who?"

_**"Use the Uchiha girl. She too knows the pain that you feel. Become friends with her, make her trust you. Make her depend on you. Then use her to further our goals. Then, when she is done, throw her away like the trash she is."**_

"What about her friends? How am I supposed to deal with them?"

_**"Use them as well. Use anybody who can further our goal. Do anything that you need to."**_

Naruto looked at the fox one last time before closing his eyes.

0o0o0o0

Sakura had a lump in her throat. She hadn't felt this bad since the day she and Ino became rivals for a week. Seeing Naruto storm off like that, and the things Kakashi said made her really think about what went on in the blonde boy's head. For the first time, she thought about how much it plagued Naruto that he never had any parents, or friends. She couldn't imagine it. She felt intense guilt as she contributed to the feelings Naruto had by belittling him and thinking so little of him. That's why he left Tazuna's house, she wanted nothing else but to stop him and apologize for the things that she has done, or not done to him.

It was strange, she always thought that Naruto's character was the thing that made him unlikable, unapproachable, but now that she really thought about it, her parents constantly shaped what she viewed Naruto as. They were constantly telling him what a bad delinquent he was and how he shouldn't even be in the village. In hindsight, she realized that she shouldn't have taken her parents word, she should have at least tried to become friends with him.

She went into the village street and glanced around at the figures that were walking past her. Trying to find where Naruto went, she looked inside the shop windows, but the blonde was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished from sight. She went into some shops, thinking he might be in the back looking at something, but she didn't find him.

She entered into the weapons shop, thinking that Naruto might be looking at some tools and saw that the sales clerk was frantic. He was pacing and muttering, stopping to only look at the girl before continuing. It was strange to see business men like the sales clerk to completely disregard the customer like that. It was so strange, Sakura walked up to him.

"Uhh... Hello." The girl said, greeting the clerk, who only took a quick glance at her before replying angrily,

"I don't have time for you right now, one of my most precious wears has been stolen!" His eyes widened as be noticed the headband.

"You...," he pointed angrily at Sakura, "You damn leaf came here and took it!"

"Sir," Sakura said began nervously, "I have no ide-,"

"You ninja took my sword and you didn't pay for it! You ninja are all the same! You take what you want simply because you can kill us, well we have lives to live too!" He said angrily to the girl, "Go! Get out of my store!"

Geeing pushed out, Sakura decided she would go back to the house and search for the blonde in the morning.

0o0o0o0

"Naruto... Naruto!"

The blonde open his eyes and he saw that Sakura was standing above him. Naruto sat up and looked at the girl.

"Thank Kami I found you Naruto." Sakura said, looking at the blonde with mild concern. When Naruto stood up, he realized he still had the sword in his hand and the scabbard was lying on the ground. Picking it up, he put the sword back in it.

"Naruto?" Sakura questioned, looking at the sword, "Where did you get that?"

He didn't answer, instead, he started walking towards the direction of Tazuna's house.

"Hey! Naruto!" Sakura yelled catching up to him, she then looked at him, slightly embarrassed, "I-I am sorry we forgot about you."

Naruto moved onwards, he wasn't going to say anything to her. She didn't deserve anything from him.

_**"Use her, Naruto." **_

The boy stopped into his tracks for a brief second, causing Sakura to get in front of him.

"Naruto?" Sakura had a confused look on her face.

"I-it's nothing Sakura. It's ok, I forgive you." Naruto said, before beginning to walk again.

The walk back to Tazuna's was quiet soon after that, but they soon arrived at the house. The smell of breakfast was thick in the air as Naruto realized that he had been gone for a day.

Sakura opened the door and entered with Naruto as they heard "Itadakimasu!" Naruto snuck passed the kitchen and put the sword in his nap sack. He didn't want anybody to see it as he would certainly be questioned as to where he went.

"Well, if it isn't our little Drama Queen." Kakashi said upon seeing Naruto. Sakura sat down next to Ino and began to eat the food on her plate. Hinata blushed when she saw the blonde, but she said, "A-are you Ok?"

"I'm fine."

Naruto looked at the table and saw that there was a place for him at the table. He eyed it suspiciously before Kakashi spoke up.

"It's yours Naruto. We didn't forget you this time," he said it with a smile, "you might want to eat fast, I am going to teach you all something after we are all done."

The boy sat down, and began to eat the food that was on his plate. He chowed down vigorously as he wondered what Kakashi might teach them. The girls eat normally, not in a rush while Shikamaru was taking a nap on the couch. Kit, whom was cuddled up in the corner, was sleeping.

"Whoa whoa," Kakashi said, chuckling slightly, "Eat slow, Naruto. I still have to check up on the Red-eyed sleeping beauty."

The girls looked at Kakashi with a disapproving stare, but he merely chuckled more and left to see Kurenai.

The female Jounin was laying in the guest bed, still recovering from the poison that the assassin had administered to her. She wasn't breathing as hard as she was earlier, but it was still clear that she cannot do anything productive.

"You OK?" Kakashi leaned against the doorway, arms folded.

"Do I look OK, Kakashi?" Kurenai replied faintly.

"Well, I would say you have officially become deadweight."

"Ha, thanks."

"No problem," the white haired Jounin said nonchalantly as he entered into her room. He sat right next to the bed and looked at her. "I am going to take them out to learn some Chakra Control."

Kurenai looked at Kakashi for a minute before breaking into a laugh, "No wonder you are such a bad teacher!"

It hurt to laugh, but the look on Kakashi's face made it much harder to stop.

"Hmm?" Kakashi said, looking at her. Kurenai straightened up and looked at him.

"Chakra Control is nothing that they couldn't handle with ease. We are facing a threat that demands more from them that just Chakra Control. Teaching them Chakra Control isn't going to help them protect Tazuna. How would that be useful if Zabuza simply blinds them with that Mist Jutsu? You'll need to teach them the basics of Chakra Sensing to give them a fighting chance."

Kakashi mulled over what the Female Jounin had told him before responding with a nod.

"I'll take your advice with a grain of salt, Kurenai. It might be a bit much to ask, but are you in any condition to oversee their training?"

"What do you think?"

The look Kurenai gave to Kakashi made the Sharingan user chuckle before exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

0o0o0o0

Kakashi lead the group into a clearing. The clearing wasn't huge, nor was it that much of a clearing, it was just a patch of land that barely had any trees. It was perfect for what Kakashi had planned.

"Alright, this seems good enough." Kakashi said as he got out six kunai and threw each one at a different tree. He then looked at the six and said, "With the power of Chakra, ninja can do the impossible. From making clones," He looked at Naruto, as he faintly remembered being told that he had a hard time with that, "To climbing up trees."

Kakashi then demonstrated this amazing feet by walking up the side of one of the trees with a kunai and then standing completely still. Jumping off, Kakashi began, "Today, you'll be learning to control your Chakra to do the very thing that I just showed you."

Ino raised her hand, "How exactly will this help us?"

Kakashi sighed as he explained, "Chakra Control is a necessary part in being a ninja. With Chakra Control, you can do the most amazing of acts and the most devastating of Jutsu. With a decent amount of control, you can do more without using anymore Chakra than you need. This exercise is also very useful in teaching you how to walk on water. In fact, it's almost the exact same thing."

"So... All we have to do is get the kunai from the tree?" Shikamaru questioned as he scanned for the shortest tree he can get. He enjoyed the laid back lifestyle that Tazuna and his family seemed to have at their house, and he wanted to return to that peaceful atmosphere as soon as possible.

"Correct, Genius-kun." Kakashi said, reveling in the gaze the Nara gave him," All you really need to do is focus your Chakra into your feet and contain it. If you can do this while moving your feet, you will have passed this exercise."

"The sooner you get that kunai from the tree, the more time we have to learn a very important technique that could render that pesky Mist Jutsu useless if you master it."

Now that struck a chord with the Genin, who had immediately set to work on controlling their Chakra.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Note: Hey! Shintaro Kozu here. This chapter took us longer than we thought because we couldn't be happy with what we wrote for the Kakashi v Zabuza scene. We spent days trying to come up with something that would please us both, but we saw no way of coming to that. WE decided to leave the fight up to the imagination of the reader and hope that it would be enough for it to continue. It's been a long process to get this chapter in order, but we have done the best we could on such an issue. **

**Now, I would really like to apologize, seeing as we had promised something and we didn't make the deadline. We really tried to, but our brains couldn't work through that scene.  
><strong>

**Please tell us what you think of the story in the reviews section and post your questions there as well, I can assure you I will try my best to respond as quick as possible. Also be sure to vote in our poll on my profile. There will be more to come, I promise that.  
><strong>

**HAPPY NEW YEARS GUYS!  
><strong>


	8. Shattered by Misconceptions

**Chapter Six:** **Shattered by Misconceptions**

Pain.

Eyes clenched tight, fist throbbing, blood flowing. The sensation of falling filled his being as Naruto soared past his falling opponent.

The porcelain mask had shattered into a million pieces and like some prerogative irony he saw his own face instead of the girlish looking boy he'd met the previous day.  
>But it was just for a second. A trick of the eye, a feeling of kinship between two broken souls who had been tossed aside. The fear and malice that both had been shown in their brief moments of life and yet both standing on opposite sides of the same ideal.<p>

Naruto hit the ground with a rough grunt but ignored the pain and stood to face his stunned opponent, "Fuck you. You think just because he took you in you owe your life to him? That your life has no meaning without him?" Naruto paused briefly, "You're right though. You and I, despite being both Shinobi, are different. While you accept your fate of being tossed aside, I won't. I refuse to just sit idly by and be used as others see fit. I can't accept that fate. I will fight for what I deem precious, and not what others declare as such. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am going to show you just how wrong you are!"

0o0 **24 Hours Ago** 0o0

Naruto's eyes fluttered open to a bright blue morning. He had worked himself to near exhaustion. The grass around him brushed upon his exposed skin and the beautiful scent of flowers filled his mind.

' ...'

The scenery around the blonde wasn't as beautiful as the smell had implied. Scorch marks and slashes marred the trees nearest to the Genin. Ever since the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi, Naruto had realized he couldn't hold anything back. He needed to practice the Jutsu in the Forbidden Scroll. While some of them were impossible at Naruto's current state, others were useable after some intense practice.

It was because of that intense practice that Naruto had been asleep. He had been overworking himself, staying later than his teammates and Sensei.

"Ah, you're finally awake."

Naruto's eyes instantly snapped towards the source of the smooth voice. On his guard, he observed a female picking flowers. The woman was beautiful. She was adorned with a pink Kimono and her face showed slight concern. Despite her delicate appearance, Naruto never his let his guard down. He knew all to well that even the most innocent of faces could be the source of your worst pain.

"Are you alright? Have you been abandoned?"

The leaf insignia adorned Naruto's forehead as the protector caught the woman's eyes. Naruto noticed her eyes travel to his forehead. The blonde's sweaty form was in a defensive position when the girl pulled out a rag.

"You're sweating. May I?"

She looked expectantly at him while holding out the rag. Considering it for a moment, the blonde shook his head and spoke.

"Who are you?"

Instead of answering, the woman put away the rag and smiled.

"I couldn't help but notice your headband. Are you a Leaf Shinobi?"

Naruto blinked before bringing his left hand to gently touch his headband. While he was still suspicious, he nodded his head. He then revealed a kunai and pointed it at her.

"I won't ask again, who are you?"

The woman smiled at the blonde like he told a slightly humorous joke.

"I am a friend, Ninja-san," she said as she looked at him. Pulling out a flower from the basket she was carrying, she smiled and placed it right next to the boy.

"Flowers," the girl began, "are lucky, aren't they?"

The question was posed to Naruto, but the boy was silent, still being cautious with the stranger that was before him. He didn't know why she was there, but if she wanted to kill him, she would have while he was asleep. The stranger looked at him, expecting a response, but she got nothing from him.  
>"All they have to do is sit there and be beautiful. They haven't a care in the world. They are a very good tool for conveying love and affection. Sometimes, I think it is a shame that humans don't stand for love and affection, don't you?"<p>

Naruto again ignored the question, he was wondering what this stranger was playing at. It was a mystery hung over his head.

"What do you stand for, Ninja-san? What does your village stand for?"  
>Naruto looked away, unsure of how to answer, or even if he should answer. A thick silence fell between the two. Several minutes of pure silence passed before the boy spoke<p>

"What are you doing here?"

"I am picking herbs for a precious friend, Ninja-san," The stranger paused before asking a another question, "Do you have anybody precious to you?"

This was a question that the blonde could easily answer. He did indeed have somebody very precious to him. Somebody who suffered along with Naruto and still loved the blonde.

"Yes."

The girl smiled at him, gently twirling a flower in her fingers.

"Would you do anything to protect that friend? Even at he expense of becoming a tool of destruction?"

"Yes."

He would kill as many people as he needed to make sure that Kit was protected and alive.

"Even at the cost of your life?"

This question was not so easy to answer. Would he sacrifice his being to save another's? Would he sacrifice his chance to get his revenge on all of those who have done him wrong? Could he honestly say he would?

"No. I wouldn't die for anybody. I have important things I must do before I die."

The girl looked puzzled before continuing with her questioning.

"But aren't ninjas required to die for the betterment of their village? If you aren't even willing to sacrifice yourself for your friends, then why become a tool for the village to use and dispose of?"  
>The blondes fists clenched at those words. He was not a tool for the people to dispose of. He was not some trivial pawn.<p>

"I am not a tool," Naruto said angrily, surprising the stranger, "I am not some object for the villages use. I am better than that. I have dreams, and goals and feelings. I am so much more than a mere tool."  
>"Isn't that the way Ninja are treated?" The stranger pressed, trying to get Naruto to elaborate.<br>"I don't care. I wouldn't expect a girl like you to understand." Naruto said, " You weren't hated for something that you couldn't control. You have no idea what it is like be treated like dirt. Being treated as a tool is no different."

The stranger smiled at him before standing up, turning and walking away.  
>"By the way, Ninja-san. I am a boy."<p>

* * *

><p>"There you are Baka," Ino's voice shouted as she approached the boy. Naruto was heading back to the very clearing that the group had been training in, "I've been looking everywhere for you!" the blonde complained, "Kakashi-sensei and the others are waiting on you."<p>

Naruto didn't respond. He just kept walking.

"Hey are you alright?" Ino asked but received no answer. Scowling, Ino ran in front of Naruto, "What's wrong with-" Ino stopped mid-sentence as she finally got a good look at his face. His eyes were wide and he looked shaken to the core.

"He's... he's a boy. That was the prettiest boy I've ever seen. Even prettier than..." Naruto once again began to walk back to the clearing, twitching every now and then.  
>"Who's prettier than who?" Ino was more confused than she ever had been in her entire life.<br>"Creepiest. Moment. Of. My life," Ino just kept staring unsure of how to react to this Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Chakra Detection is all about concentration. We have to channel the chakra through our bodies and into the ground. Form a wave. Chakra Detection is similar to echolocation and it requires quite a bit of-" Kakashi paused to notice Ino and Naruto entering the fold, "Well well, it's finally nice to have the full class here. We are going over Chakra Detection, Naruto."<p>

Naruto nodded and moved next to Sasuke and Shikamaru, preferring the familiarity of his team than the all girl team while Ino moved next to Sakura and Hinata.

"Now, in order to "echolocate" you have to send your Chakra out in bursts of waves expanding it out of your body. Since sources of chakra, such as animals and people, don't absorb chakra it rebounds back, effectively giving away the sources' location. Sensor types come in numerous shapes and sizes making them high value priorities for both allies and enemies. Take out the sensor and you make your enemy blind. However, if everyone can sense chakra it's not as big a blow as it normally would be. Of course sensing isn't for everybody. It is immensely difficult because your complete focus must be on controlling and shaping it into the correct form for an accurate reading."

The Genins exchanged looks of annoyance. Chakra Concentration was relatively easy, but this was on a whole new level. Sasuke doubted that any of them would make considerable progress in it.  
>"This is troublesome... Listen, Sensei, this is too much to ask of us. I doubt that we can master this within a year let alone a couple of days, or however long we have," Shikamaru put his hands behind his back and yawned.<p>

"Listen, Genius, I don't need you to master this, I just need you to be good enough to detect _some_ Chakra. Hinata," Kakashi turned to the timid girl, "Is the only one that has an edge on the **Mist Jutsu**. One out of six is not a good advantage. I don't care if you can't tell who's Chakra it is, all I care about is that you can sense it. That's all that's important. Sometimes, you don't have the time to prep for a battle properly, and you have to scramble and use what you got."

Kakashi then showed them the process of channeling your Chakra into the wave-like bursts and left them to it. He just leaned against a tree reading his beloved book.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Sakura. You never did tell us what happened when you tried to find Naruto," Ino said while they were taking a break, "I mean, it's not everyday you storm after him like that. You into him or something?"<p>

Sakura looked at her blonde friend with an incredulous look, "As if! I only went after him because I felt bad for the way we treated him. I mean, the things he said to that boy were..." She felt silent. She was at a loss at how to convey her sadness and disgust. What made her even more sick was that she herself contributed to the pain that Naruto must have been feeling. She couldn't help but imagine all of the sadness that must plague him.

"Hey, it's alright," Ino said, trying to comfort her pink haired friend as Hinata and Sasuke sat next to them, leaving Shikamaru and Naruto training out on the field," I would have go-"

"Then why didn't you?" Sakura cut Ino off, surprising the three, "It would have been better if you went with me."

"Well...," Ino began, not really knowing how to answer, but Sakura didn't let her finish.

"I mean, I shouldn't have been the one to go. Hinata," Sakura turned toward the white-eyed Heiress, "Don't you like Naruto? Why didn't you go with me? Heck you should've been the first person to go after him."

The question and statement pierced Hinata hard, and she averted her gaze from her friends. She was ashamed of herself as well, she should have gone, but she was too scared, and too timid. It was the reason why she had never tried to help Naruto, even when he was suffering. Ever since that fateful day when Naruto saved her, she had been watching. She had seen everything, but she had stopped nothing. This was just another thing to add to her list of failures.

"..."

Hinata couldn't answer her. She knew that Sakura was right.

"Didn't you guys feel sad for Naruto? I mean, the things Kakashi said..." Sakura said, getting quiet at the end.

"Of course I did, I mean, who knew?" Ino said. Sasuke was remembering what Inari had said, and her fists tightened a little. It hit home with her as well. She understood Naruto's pain in a sense. She even understood his anger at him.

What the boy had said hit her almost as badly as it did Naruto. While she did live alone, she wasn't _alone_. Not like Naruto. She at least had friends, who had even offered her a place to live with others over living alone in an empty apartment with only the bare essentials. And what did Naruto have? Possibly less than that. And he truly was alone. So alone that his only companion came in the form of a small fox. But it wasn't the loneliness that she understood best, it was the anger. The anger at not being understood. That it wasn't a want to change fate but to make it her own, only to be denied by simpletons who wouldn't, couldn't, begin to understand the shear volume of pain left in her heart. Her's was but 6 years, Naruto's was a lifetime. A lifetime of pain and loneliness. It amazed her, the resolve he had to have not shattered by now.

"And what about you, Sasuke?" Sakura rounded on her, "You are his teamate, and yet you won't help him. You should have went and apologized, just like I did. Honestly," Sakura stood up and looked at the three of them, "You three are completely unbelievable."

"You're one to talk, Sakura. You are one of the worst offenders. On numerous occasions, you have gone out of your way to put Naruto down. If anybody needs to apologize to him, it needs to be you and you owe him more than one."

Sakura stammered several times, trying to come up with a counter but found none. There had been many times when she would openly made fun of Naruto, in his face no less, just to fit in with the other children. Tears began to swell and roll down her cheeks at just how cruel she'd been to someone who'd done nothing to her. But despite her past actions, it was the present that truly mattered, and she was at least willing to begin making amends with the blonde, "At least I'm trying, Sasuke. I-I know I've done horrible things but I want to make up for them. Even if you never made fun of him, you still never really stood up for him. You're not as innocent in this as you think."

Just as Sasuke was about to retort, Ino interjected, "Stop it, both of you. Arguing isn't going to solve anything. Not to mention this isn't the time," Ino quickly glanced toward where Naruto and Shikamaru were still sparring, "Sakura is right though. All of us should've gotten to know Naruto before judging him. He deserves our apologies. We will do it at the end of the mission."

"T-thank you, Ino." Sakura said, wiping her tears away so that Naruto or Shikamaru wouldn't be able to see them.

* * *

><p>Naruto's eyes opened to a familiar scene. He was looking up at the sky again, totally exhausted from the work that he had been doing the day before with his teammates and the girls. Something was different though, it was as if this morning was darker, more like the afternoon.<p>

It took him a few minutes to realize that he overslept.

Rushing up to his feet, Naruto quickly looked to make sure he had everything. With all of his stuff packed up and ready to go, the blonde rushed towards Tazuna's house in a fury. He didn't want to be late to eat again. Pushing his sore and aching body, he came upon the house.

"Hey, Naruto," Kurenai spoke as Naruto entered into the dining room where Tsunami, Inari and her were eating. Kit was snoozing in the corner, "Kakashi and the others took Tazuna-san to the bridge," Kurenai said, "You'll be late if you don't hurry up. They left me behind because I am still recovering."

Naruto nodded and ran out of the house, the sword sheathed up on his side. "Hey! Ninja-kid!" Tsunami shouted, "What about your breakfast!?" Tsunami sighed as the blonde ignored her and rushed toward the bridge. "Men..." Tsunami mumbled and returned to Kurenai and Inari.

Naruto disregarded the strange looks he got from the people he passed, the sword hitting his side as he was making his way. He wasn't used to running with the weapon yet, and it slowed him down. His sole focus was to get to the bridge. Deciding that going through Forrest would be a faster alternative, Naruto ran out of the town and into the shrubbery.

"Hey, Leaf kid."

Naruto stopped in his tracks. His eyes narrowed as he searched for the source of the voice. Two figures stood in front of Naruto, both carrying Katanas. Naruto tensed up, preparing for anything these two swordsman would try to do.

"What are you doing?" The one with the hat asked, with a smirk on his face. His partner decided to don a similar smirk. Both had their respective hands on the hilts of their swords. Naruto blinked in faint surprise at the question, but decided to return with one of his own.

"What am I doing?" He responded, staring intensely at the two, slightly puzzled. He didn't have time to deal with them, but if he went Sword-to-Sword with them he would lose. Naruto was unskilled in how to handle a sword.

"Yeah," The one with the eye patch responded, "What are you doing?" With eyes shifting from one to another, Naruto moved his hand slowly to his kunai pouch. He had to make sure that they didn't notice a thing. He decided the best way to distract them would be to continue the conversation.

"Nothing," Naruto said, his hand still inching for the kunai.

"Nothing, huh? We noticed you're wearing a shinobi headband." The one with hat remarked. His hand gripping the hilt of his sword, anxious to pull it out and battle.

"So I am, what of it?" Naruto questioned back, continuing the banter. His hand still inching towards his pouch of kunai.

"You one of the Shinobi that bridge builder hired?" The eye-pach one continued.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

"If you are, that would be bad," Eye-patch continued.

"Yeah, we would have to kill you." The other added. Both stepped toward the Genin.

"Why?" Naruto asked, trying to buy himself more time. He needed to have enough time to strike both of them down in a matter of seconds between each other.

"You might thwart our plans."

"What's your plan?" Naruto asked.

"We are supposed to kidnap the bridge builders whore of a daughter," the one with the hat said, licking his lips slightly.

"So, are you trying to thwart our plans?" Eye-patch asked, getting ready to strike. His smile gone, and a look of intensity came upon the mercenary.

After some feigned thinking, Naruto replied, "Yes."

"Then we are going to have to kill you."

"Really?" Naruto asked.

"Really."

"That's too bad."

"Why is that?"

"Because I already killed you."

"The hell are you-" the one with the hat was cut off as a kunai embedded itself in his jugular vein. As he fell, life fading from him, he saw the same fate befall his companion.

"Sorry but I don't have time to deal with the two of you," Naruto walked to the two corpses and extracted his weapons before continuing to the bridge.

0o0 **Earlier** 0o0

"I can't believe you let Naruto sleep in again but not me," Shikamaru complained as he and the rest of the shinobi along with Tazuna arrived at the bridge.

"Shut up Shikamaru. We couldn't find Naruto, that's the only reason we didn't drag him along too. You're not the only one who's tired!," Ino scowled at the lazy genin.

"All of you quiet. Now," Kakashi harshly issued the command.

Kakashi's tone threw the two bickering off and they bumped into Sakura and Sasuke who were in front of them in their current formation around Tazuna.

Looking around the genin began taking in the scenes of blood and gore of what was once Tazuna's crew. Body parts were strewn everywhere.

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were horrified. It was too surreal for them. Shikamaru gave a dazed look at his first true scene of brutal manslaughter. Sasuke took it all in, detached from the loss of life, readying herself for the oncoming fight.

Tazuna simply lost his lunch.

"It would seem, you were wrong Hatake," Zabuza began to laugh as he stepped forward and out of the thick mist, "I hope you prepared those brats to embrace death!"

* * *

><p>AN Note:The Revolutionary Ronin here! Haha. Going first this time. Suck it Kozu. Best part is he's watching me write this live. Not much to say other than I'm back bitches. DBZA references. Find it. I dare you.

**A/N Note: Hey, Shintaro Kozu here, and first things first: Fuck you Ronin. This is one of the shorter chapters, but that is mostly because we wanted the whole bridge scene to be it's separate chapter due to the estimated length of it. As Ronin mentioned before, we added in some fun little things for you in this chapter, hopefully we made this chapter in line with how we wrote our story.**

**Vote on our poll! (on my profile!)**

**Question of the Chapter: Should Zabuza live or die? (Note: This is just your opinion. This will probably not have an effect on his life or not, unless you impress me with your reasons.)**

**P.S Ronin is first because unlike him, I have a girlfriend.**

P.S. Who wants a girlfriend when I can have all the bitches?

**P.P.S Who needs bitches when you have a woman?**

P.P.S Who needs a woman when you have women?

**P.P.P.S Well played.**

P.P.P.S I know.


	9. Shattered by Power

**Chapter Seven: Shattered by Power**

_"I can't believe you let Naruto sleep in again but not me," Shikamaru complained as he and the rest of the shinobi along with Tazuna arrived at the bridge._

_"Shut up Shikamaru. We couldn't find Naruto, that's the only reason we didn't drag him along too. You're not the only one who's tired!" Ino scowled at the lazy Genin._

_"All of you quiet. Now." Kakashi harshly issued the command._

_Kakashi's tone threw the two off and they bumped into Sakura and Sasuke who were in front of them in their current formation around Tazuna._

_Looking around, the genin began taking in the scenes of blood and gore of what was once Tazuna's crew. Body parts were strewn everywhere._

_Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were horrified. It was too surreal for them. Shikamaru gave a dazed look at his first true scene of brutal manslaughter. Sasuke took it all in, detached from the loss of life, readying herself for the oncoming fight._

_Tazuna simply lost his lunch._

_"It would seem, you were wrong Hatake," Zabuza began to laugh as he stepped forward and out of the thick mist, "I hope you prepared those brats to embrace death!"_

0o0o0o0

Blood was everywhere, Ino noticed. This wasn't a struggle, it was a _slaughter_. This man, Zabuza, was a monster and he frightened her. The blonde couldn't look into that monster's eyes, she was pretty sure she would die if she did. She tried to move her hand to her kunai pouch but her hands wouldn't respond. She was short of breath and her hands were shaking in fear. Ino was afraid. She was so afraid that she couldn't move her body. Her shaking form was just standing there, eyeing the bloody horror that was before her. For the first time, Ino feared for her life.

Ino wasn't alone. Her teammates were standing, frozen in their places with terror. Hinata's eyes were wide and shaking just as badly. The same went for her pink haired friend. Sasuke, the blonde observed, was stoic. The Uchiha's expression was completely blank she was unfazed by the slaughter. Shikamaru looked dazed, as if somebody drugged him with sleeping medicine, and his sensei, Kakashi, shared the same look as Sasuke.

Ino wondered if, by the end of her ninja career, she too would also wear that look when death was in front of her. How often would she see death? Her eyes tried to move away from the gruesome scene but they wouldn't, they _couldn't._ Her eyes were terribly mesmerized by the blood. That monster, Zabuza, was looking at the group in smug confidence, Ino observed, after she managed to move her eyes. His sword stained with blood. The Demon of the Hidden Mist was smiling; he enjoyed the act he'd just committed. That made Ino sick. This wasn't something anybody should enjoy. Killing should always be the last resort, and it should be used sparingly. Yet, Ino noticed, it seemed that it happened way more often than it should. Her stomach churned at the sudden thought that she had killed somebody too, that Chuunin ninja that had attacked them before. Sure, it might have been on accident, but she ended a life.

_"This isn't a game. This is life or death. He isn't going to get back up just because you feel bad. You'll have to live with the fact that you ended a life. His hopes and dreams are over because of you. And you'll be expected to do it again and again in name of Country and Village. You wanted to be ninja and this is being ninja. Killing and being killed. That's what you wanted to be: Killers."_

Ino remembered what Kakashi had said back then. To be honest with herself, she wanted to be a ninja because it had promised adventure, exotic places to visit, and handsome boys to date. It also made her father proud of her.

'_Maybe Kakashi-Sensei was right,' _Ino thought as she stared at the body parts that were everywhere,_ "Maybe I shouldn't have become a ninja."_

"Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru," Kakashi said, never taking his eyes off of Zabuza, "protect our client. Do not let anything happen to him."

The three Kakashi addressed nodded as they went into formation around Tazuna, who looked nauseous still. Ino took the right side of Tazuna, her focus back on the mission.

"What about us?" Sasuke asked her Sensei, her eyes looked to Hinata. Sasuke's right hand holding a kunai, prepared to defend.

"You'll be facing me, Zabuza-sama wants to duel Kakashi of the Sharingan alone." A figure appeared beside the Demon of the Mist. Sasuke noticed that it was that masked hunter-nin that picked up Zabuza's body after he "killed" him. The Uchiha princess tensed up.

"Sasuke, Hinata, I'll be relying on you to keep that hunter-nin busy." Kakashi gave the two a serious stare before adding, "And whatever you do, stay out of the fight between me and Zabuza."

Sasuke nodded before getting ready to fight. The Hyuuga Heiress looked apprehensive, she wasn't a fighter, and she knew that she was better suited for guarding the client.

_"Do not humiliate the clan."_

Hinata's fists slightly tightened. That's right, this was a chance to prove herself, not only to her friends, but to her father back home. She wasn't the failure he imagined her to be; she was going to give it her best. Determination flared upon her features as she lingered on that thought.

The masked Shinobi made the first move. It was a mere flick of the wrists, but Sasuke noticed the Senbōn needles that were flying toward her and Hinata. It was fast, almost lightning speed. This masked Shinobi was very skilled with those. Sasuke was faster. She pushed Hinata and herself out of the path of the flying projectiles while throwing a few kunai at their opponent.

"Hinata, we got to make sure that none of those needles happen to reach Tazuna-san." Sasuke threw some shuriken and then charged at the hunter-nin. Hinata nodded before throwing some of her own kunai and shuriken at the masked Nin.

"It seems your Genin have gotten better since we last fought, Kakashi," Zabuza said, throwing some punches. Kakashi skillfully dodged as he glanced at Sasuke and Hinata trying to combat Zabuza's protégé.

"You know, trying to distract me won't work, Zabuza. I am confident that my pupil can take your..." He let the sentence drop as he realized something. Zabuza was smiling.

"Ah, you finally noticed, huh?"

Suddenly, Kakashi felt a pain surge through his bottom half as he looked down. He was standing in a puddle, but now it was frozen his feet, and the ice was climbing up his legs. His eyes widened and he immediately began hand signing.

"**Fire Style: Fire Concentration."**

The ice around Kakashi's feet began to melt at a rapid pace as fire sounded Kakashi's lower body. Soon after all of the ice and water evaporated, the fire died and Kakashi looked at Zabuza with a stare.

"You aren't an ice user."

"Your right Kakashi, I'm not. However, the kid behind you is." Zabuza grinned again as Kakashi turned to face a second copy of the Hunter-nin. This version launched at the Sharingan user with five Senbōn needles in each hand, prepared to throw.

"What happened to you wanting to fight me alone?" Kakashi said as he dodged the lunging boy, placing a paper bomb on the younger Nin's back with his free hand. Without a second thought, Kakashi activated it with his Chakra. In a small, controlled explosion the body was gone, leaving huge fragments of ice.

"Clones aren't exactly people, are they?" Zabuza said as he swung his huge Cleaver-type sword at Kakashi.

Kakashi ducked in the nick of time. A few strands of his white hair floated freely before him as the sword swung just above his head, cutting them off. Kakashi brought his left hand to his headband, pulling it up.

"Ha-ha, finally," Zabuza said as he swung his sword," The man who copied a thousand Jutsu gets serious."

Kakashi dodged again, backing up as his newly revealed Sharingan eye surveyed the situation. His hands dropped low as they moved in a flurry of different hand signs.

**"Water Style: Snake's Mouth."**

A huge spinning column of water burst from Kakashi's hand and formed a snake with its mouth open. Suddenly, the water snake went for Zabuza. The water sounded the Demon of the Hidden Mist and began to engulf him.

"Interesting, Kakashi, but that's not going to work." Zabuza swing his sword down on the stonework of the bridge, parting the water around him.

The amount of water around them shocked the three that were guarding Tazuna. The extent of how powerful Kakashi must be to summon such a monster, and how powerful Zabuza was to completely deflect the water snake. Ino was surprised that the bridge didn't flood with the amount of water that Kakashi summoned. Some of it must have ran off the bridge and poured into the salty water below.

In a flash Zabuza threw four kunai at his adversary. The Sharingan was no ordinary eye. It had seen the inhumanly fast movements of the projectiles and Kakashi's body reacted accordingly, dodging. Kakashi grunted as two of the four barely nicked his arms, causing a shallow cut to form on both of the appendages.

"I wonder how well your Genin are faring against Haku."

"You should focus on me, Zabuza."

Kakashi flashed three hand signs. His hands were a blur as the three hand signs for Ox, Rabbit, and Monkey were formed in that order. Kakashi aimed both palms to the ground before the generation of blue lightning chakra began to form. It was a magnificent sight. The air around Kakashi began to crackle and fizzle. The sudden spike of electricity in the air caused hairs on the nearby Genin to stand on edge.

**"Lightning Blade."**

Kakashi charged Zabuza, ready to end this in one move, one single strike. However, Zabuza had different plans in mind. He swung his sword to deflect the lightning chakra that was protruding from his enemy's hand, and they stood there locked. His blade was continuously being assaulted by the electric chakra that coiled and crackled around it. The Demon of the Hidden Mist was having a hard time standing his ground. Going against Kakashi's Jutsu was causing him immense strain. His arms started to ache as he held his ground.

"As expected, Kakashi. I have heard stories of the Lightning Blade, but..." Zabuza smiled, his toothy grin hidden beneath the gauze, "I will not lose to it!"

Using the immense strength honed by years of training, Zabuza began to push back the lighting that came from Kakashi's hand. He was grunting as the strain put on his body increased. Finally, he was able to fully push it back. At least enough to defend himself from it.

The Sharingan user's powerful jutsu slowly faded out of existence. Kakashi immediately threw kunai, wanting to keep Zabuza distracted until he could think of another tactic. The kunai whizzed through the air and was swiftly blocked by Zabuza, using his sword to render the projectiles harmless. They clattered to the floor as Zabuza charged the white-haired shinobi.

Sword swipe after sword swipe, Zabuza kept on his frontal assault. His moves were fluid, and they had a subtle control to them. If an inexperienced eye were to look upon Zabuza as he was fighting Kakashi, it would seem that he was just simply slashing.

"What's going on? Zabuza is just hacking away at Kakashi-sensei. Does he really think random slashes will work against him?" Ino asked incredulously as she observed the fight while guarding the bridge-builder. Her grip on the kunai in her possession was slightly lessening as she was directing all of her attention to Kakashi's fight with Zabuza.

"That's not it," Shikamaru began his voice lacked the laziness that was the norm, "Zabuza's style only mimics randomness. If you watch closely, he is definitely planning each attack on Kakashi-sensei."

The blonde Yamanaka narrowed her eyes and tried to closely observe the fight. She tried to decipher the planning Shikamaru said was in each strike, but it eluded her. In fact, the more she looked at Zabuza, the more it seemed like he was simply possessed and out of control. It made her spine shiver as she watched the movements of the Demon of the Hidden Mist. They were fluid, and there seemed to be a... creepy movement to them, as if Zabuza wasn't human. He was just striking, and striking. Zabuza had a smile plastered on his face, and not even the bandages on his face could cover the sadistic expression. He was frightening.

Zabuza truly was a demon.

"It probably took him quite an amount of time to develop the style he is using."

Ino's morbid thoughts were broken by Shikamaru's voice. She mentally shook of her previous thoughts before addressing the usually lazy Nara.

"What style? It's just random slashes!"

Ino was frustrated. Clearly, she was missing _something_, something that lazy ass Shikamaru could see. That annoyed her. She looked at Zabuza once again as he was still trying to slash Kakashi in a flurry of sword movements. Still, it looked like it was random, fierce and very insane.

"You're not getting it," Shikamaru said to Ino, slightly annoyed. He sighed and continued, "Man, this is troublesome. Look how he moves, what does it remind you of?"

The blonde gulped as she looked at that monster again. It was still the same thing. Zabuza simply looked like he wasn't human. He looked like he was...

"Possessed..." She mumbled under her breath as she shuddered. Her hand now gripped the kunai she was holding tightly.

"Exactly. Zabuza has created a unique style. One that strikes fear into the hearts of the inexperienced and," Shikamaru nodded at Kakashi, "creates a false opening for those that aren't so intimidated. It's purely psychological."

"So, Zabuza is just waiting for Kakashi to make a move? And when he does, it might be the thing that he wants it to be?"

Shikamaru nodded, but Ino didn't see it. She was merely focused on the battle between the two master shinobi.

"Uh, guys," Sakura spoke up, garnering the attention of the other two Genin, "Sasuke and Hinata..."

All eyes, save for Kakashi's and Zabuza's, looked at Sasuke and Hinata's fight with the masked nin. It wasn't going as well as they had hoped.

'_If things continue like this,' _Sasuke thought while barely dodging more Senbōn needles, _'Tazuna-san is going to die.'_

Taking out some shuriken, the Uchiha princess threw them at her enemy. She knew that it wouldn't land a hit, but that wasn't what she wanted. Sasuke wanted to give Hinata an opening to try to attack.

It worked. The masked nin instantly used some of the needles to try to render the projectiles useless, but by doing that, he had turned his head away from the Hyuuga Heiress.

Hinata knew that this was her chance. She launched at the masked nin, readying her hands to strike. The Heiress was closing in quickly, and began to extend her hand, ready to strike one of the many chakra points that her father had made her memorize. However, she was too slow.

The masked ninja threw a single needle at Hinata, and it imbedded itself in her torso. Pain shot though her body and Hinata's eyes closed as she clamped her mouth down. Due to the pain, Hinata lost her balance and-

_'NO!'_

She steadied herself. Hinata will not fall down. She will not fail. She couldn't afford to. Hinata Hyuuga readied herself once more and charged, meeting the masked nin head on. She attempted to strike her opponent multiple times, and in multiple areas. Hinata had unshed tears forming as she continued her assault. Her torso stung every time she had to move to strike.

"My needles are coated with a special chemical that slowly shuts down the body. You should feel its effects shortly. Don't worry, it isn't lethal. I don't plan on killing any of you," The masked nin spoke to Hinata as he dodged all of the strikes that the Heiress dished out.

Hinata did start to feel the effects. Her movements started to slow and her perception was getting hazy. She began to lose her footing, and on her next lunge, she stumbled. This gave the masked nin a perfect opening to punch her torso.

He sent Hinata flying back, and he then turned to Sasuke, who was making a bee line straight to him.

The Uchiha Princess aimed a punch and was deflected easily. She twisted her body and stuck out her leg, hoping to sweep the enemy of his feet. That too, was easily rendered useless.

_'Goddamn it!' _Sasuke thought in frustration as she tried to land more hits on her opponent. The Uchiha Princess glanced at Hinata, who was still lying on the ground. Ever since they had gotten onto the bridge, the feeling of Deja vu was prevalent. Sasuke had witnessed this bloodshed before. She had seen the people she cared about strewn around, in bloody pieces everywhere. And when she glanced at Hinata, lying still there, she imagined her mother laying there, recently killed by _him._

That made Sasuke agitated, and open for attack.

And that attack came in the form of a fist connecting with her stomach. She stumbled back, the wind knocked out of her. Gasping for breath, Sasuke held her stomach as the pain festered. She looked at the masked ninja, who began forming hand signs in rapid order.

The air around Sasuke and the masked ninja condensed, and grew considerably colder. The hair on Sasuke's body stood on edge as the sudden temperature drop produced goose bumps.

**"Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals." **

_'Ice mirrors?' _Sasuke thought as her eyes widened. Surrounding Sasuke were giant, cold, reflecting rectangles of ice. They surrounded her, and Sasuke realized there was no escape.

Not only did they surround her, but they made a dome around her, exposing every part of Sasuke's form. They trapped her, and the air around her was frigid. It sent shivers down her spine as she looked at her image, reflected onto several blocks of ice.

Suddenly, Sasuke felt the urge to move. To get out of the way of _something._ Her body moved left on instinct. A large amount of needles penetrated the ground where Sasuke had once stood. She looked around, but she only saw the mirrors. She didn't see the masked nin that Hinata and her were fighting. Sasuke tensed her body, ready to dodge any needles that come her way.

0o0o0o0

_'Blood,'_ Naruto thought absently as he arrived onto the scene. The bridge that was to be the Land of Wave's salvation looked like it had been put through Hell. Water, blood, and body parts were everywhere.

The metallic smell of the blood was prominent, and Naruto wrinkled his nose at the stench, but other than that, he was indifferent to the bloodshed that was sprawled out all over the place. His eyes glanced around, and saw the two battles that were running concurrently.

"Naruto?! Where'd you ge-" The blonde Yamanaka shook her head when she saw the sword strapped to Naruto's back. "Now's not the time, help Sasuke!"

The vulpine looking Genin looked around for Sasuke, and for a second, he couldn't find her. She didn't seem to be here, all he saw was Kakashi, Zabuza, and Hinata, who was trying her best to stand up. He also saw a large dome of what looked like arctic rectangles. His eyes widened a bit as he realized what exactly was going on.

_'In that dome, huh?'_

"Naruto, what are you waiting for? Support Sasuke, now." Kakashi declared while dodging some more sword swipes from the sanguinary opponent, Zabuza. Naruto's sensei tried to create more Jutsu, but Zabuza Momochi kept interrupting him with his fast slashes.

The blond nodded as he straightened the sword that was resting, a bit uncomfortably, on his side. He wasn't quite used to it yet, and because of that, it slowed his movement and chaffed his side whenever he moved. Naruto's slight pain and slight imbalance (As his body was not used to extra weight being on one side) were due to a hasty sheathing.

Naruto's eyes looked over the ice dome of mirrors once more before he flashed hand signs and produced three distinct, solid looking clones. The three exact copies looked at each other before turning to the original and asking, "What do you need, boss?" in unison.

"Enter into the dome through different points and help Sasuke, surround her and protect."

The three clones nodded and headed towards the dome, ready to give Sasuke support. Naruto was about to get into his position, as he was going to help them out as well, but his eyes went towards Hinata, and he paused.

The Hyuuga heiress was just getting up, panting frantically and wincing while she tried to stand. Her hands and body were shaking, and it was hard to maintain her balance. She could feel her that her energy was considerably drained. Suddenly, her head began to spin, and she felt her body falling down. She didn't make it to the ground, as a hand caught her, and helped to maintain her balance. She looked hazily at the person who was currently supporting her.

"N-Naruto-kun..."

"Be quiet, and sit down. I don't have the time for the weak."

Hinata's eyes widened at Naruto's statement. She bowed her head as she realized what Naruto meant. He considered her to be a weak person, and Naruto doesn't have time for her. Tears started to well in her eyes as she did exactly as her crush instructed her to. She sat down and began to sob quietly to herself.

The blond took a step toward the ice dome, and began to signal to his clones. The replicas nodded and charged into the fray with Naruto to help Sasuke with the masked-nin.

The needles were the first thing Naruto noticed; the second were the shallow cuts and labored breathing of Sasuke. His clones and Naruto surrounded the Uchiha, all of them drawing out their kunai in preparation for an attack.

Poof! Poof!

That attack came, and it took down to clones in a barrage of needles. It was faster than a blink of an eye, and was relatively silent, except for the clone's respective disappearance. All that was left was Naruto, Sasuke, and another clone of Naruto.

Poof!

Now it was just Naruto and Sasuke. They shared a look, and then both dodged left, avoiding the barrage of needles that the masked nin threw.

"Hello, Ninja-san. We meet again."

The voice was familiar, and it took Naruto only a moment to place it. That girlish looking boy that was picking herbs while he was asleep. His hands tightened into fists as he instantly realized that he had the perfect opportunity to end him at that time. If only Naruto had known that stranger would be a future problem.

"You," Naruto said, clenching his jaw as his fists tightened even more.

Sasuke looked at Naruto questioningly before she focused on dodging a flurry of needles that was sent her way.

"Yes, me." Suddenly, the masked nin became visible in one of the ice mirrors, his mask still adorning his face, concealing the smile that formed on his lips. He threw more needles at the pair.

Naruto dodged and threw a kunai at the masked ninja. Sailing through the air, making a bee-line for the enemy's forehead, the kunai embedded itself in the mirror, cracking the ice. However, Naruto noticed, the ninja moved into a different mirror, just before the projectile hit it.

"You're going to have to try harder than that, Ninja-san. As long as there are mirrors I can jump to, you won't be able to strike me." The masked ninja declared in an almost amused tone.

"Looks like I will have to destroy all of them," Naruto said as he got out more kunai, narrowly dodging another senbōn needle cluster thrown his way. The blond backed up a bit as he threw two kunai, aiming for two mirrors right next to each other. Sasuke did the same thing as she had listened to what Naruto was planning.

Sadly, the kunai missed the intended targets, rendered useless by some more senbōns. Naruto swore under his breath as a blur sped by him, and a gash appeared on his side.

_'H-he's fast!'_

Naruto's hand instantly went towards his injury, trying to apply some pressure on it to stay the blood loss. The blond gritted his teeth as he channeled his chakra and did hand signs. He wasn't sure if he should do this jutsu, as he had not fully mastered it, but he knew that if he didn't go all the way, he and his comrades would die.

**"Fire Style: Flame Whirlwind!"**

Flames arose from the ground around Naruto, twisting and hissing in the cold air like some kind of fiery beast. Suddenly, the fire began to consume the blond and the Uchiha princess, whipping at the ice mirrors with flame.

The masked nin's eyes widened as he saw his mirrors began to melt at the constant barrage of coiling fire. The heat rose, and if he didn't do something, he was going to burn.

"I spent all my free time trying to get this down, never thought I would actually use it this soon." Naruto shouted at the masked nin.

Naruto remembered all of the burns he had suffered while he was training with this Jutsu, but he also remembered that he hadn't quite gotten it down. It was, as fire usually was, highly unstable.

And that instability proved to be a factor as the fires began to settle down and disappear, much to the pair of genin's despair.

Sasuke's eyes widened at Naruto, and she was rendered speechless. Just how strong was this kid, how much was he hiding from the rest of them. Even she couldn't produce that much flame, and to singlehandedly turn the fight into their favor...

She shook her head. This was all to unreal.

"Looks like that was the best you had to offer, Ninja-san. This was the best you had to offer to protect your fellow ninja, your fri-"

"She isn't my friend, she is only a teammate."

This made the masked nin stop in his tracks. He was originally planning to use the dialogue to distract his pesky enemies, but this... This made less sense to him now.

"But, why would you go so far for only a teammate? I thought you wouldn't even risk your life for a friend?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. The sudden dialogue was a bit out of place, but this might simply be a ploy for them to let their guard down. He stiffened and gave his reply.

"Why come into the dome? Because my sensei instructed me to." He pulled out a kunai and smiled, "I'm not risking my life, and I will be the one to walk out of this alive."

"So, you _are_ a tool for your village, just like I am merely a tool for Zabuza to use and discard. I was abandoned by everyone, left to fend for myself, but Zabuza saved me, and now I am his tool, and only that. Just like you are for your village. The difference between us is that I have come to terms with my fate."

The blond's grip tightened on his kunai as he snarled at his enemy, "I am not a tool. I will NOT be referred to as one!"

The kunai that was in Naruto's hand sailed through the air at the mirror the masked ninja was in. Naruto, as soon as the kunai left his hand, launched himself towards the mirror as well, his fist cocking for an explosive hit.

_'The fire... It melted all the other mirrors, and if this one is destroyed... No! The boy couldn't have thought this up all along!' _Naruto's enemy thought as he was left with no other choice but to confront the boy. He launched himself out of the mirror and towards the blond.

Pain.

Eyes clenched tight, fist throbbing, blood flowing. The sensation of falling filled his being as Naruto soared past his falling opponent.

The porcelain mask had shattered into a million pieces and like some prerogative irony he saw his own face instead of the girlish looking boy he'd met the previous day.

But it was just for a second. A trick of the eye, a feeling of kinship between two broken souls who had been tossed aside. The fear and malice that both had been shown in their brief moments of life and yet both standing on opposite sides of the same ideal.

Naruto hit the ground with a rough grunt but ignored the pain and stood to face his stunned opponent, "Fuck you. You think just because he took you in you owe your life to him? That your life has no meaning without him?" Naruto paused briefly, "You're right though. You and I, despite being both Shinobi, are different. While you accept your fate of being tossed aside, I won't. I refuse to just sit idly by and be used as others see fit. I can't accept that fate. I will fight for what I deem precious, and not what others declare as such. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am going to show you just how wrong you are!"

"Very well, Naruto-san. I, Haku, will now stop going easy on you."

_'That was going easy?' _Sasuke thought as she prepared to get her kunai from her pouch.

"Sasuke, this is between me and him. Stay out." Naruto's voice was sharp, and it revealed an anger that Sasuke knew was uncharacteristic of him. The cold Naruto was gone, the one that barely displayed any emotion, and was replaced with a Naruto that radiated rage.

"Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura shouted. Both were relieved that their friend was fine. It dawned on the Uchiha that, with the ice mirrors gone, her friends have a clear view of the fight. Now that her friends could see her, she was less inclined to do what Naruto had ordered her to do. She tensed and got ready to spring an attack, or defend against one.

"You aren't the only one that's got something to prove, Naruto," Sasuke said coldly, ignoring the venomous look the blond flashed at her.

That's right; she _had to _be the best. She can't lose now. She wouldn't allow herself to lose to Haku or Naruto. She couldn't lose to either of them, because if she did, then she is nothing compared to the monster who slaughtered her family, her clan. She also had to prove that she wasn't weak in front of her friends, whom always viewed her as the strongest.

"Tch. You're only going to get in my way." Naruto spat at his fellow teammate while keeping his eyes focused on his opponent, Haku. Sasuke's mouth clenched and her teeth were grinding together at his comment.

Haku, however, was amused at the clash between the two genin before him. He could use this to his advantage... If he could cause them to compete with each other for the victory, Haku might come out the victor. He only needed to prolong things a little...

Haku flashed hand signs and the pools of water remaining from Kakashi's jutsu formed into exact replicas of the formally masked nin. Naruto's body tensed as he focused his sights on the four forms of Haku.

"Come and get me, Ninja-san. That is," Haku smiled a bit smugly before continuing, "If your _friend _doesn't get to me first."

Naruto slightly smiled at the challenge. Finally, he was going against a hard opponent, and now would be his chance to go all out on a-

A blur flew past Naruto, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. That blur was Sasuke, charging the Haku-s, determined NOT to let Naruto have a chance at victory. Preparing her kunai, she prepared to throw them at each of her enemies, hoping they hit and narrow down the possible choices for her real adversary.

_'That bit-'_ Naruto didn't have time to complete that thought as his hands instinctively threw his kunai, hoping to deflect Sasuke's.

Clang! Clang!

Naruto's kunai struck down two of Sasuke's kunai, and the other two were deflected by Haku's flurry of senbōn. As soon as Naruto heard confirmation of the hit, he flashed hand signs and nine clones appeared, ready to do battle with his enemy.

And battle they did.

Naruto knew that even if he went all out, to the point of field testing some of the forbidden scroll jutsu, he still might not be enough to take on Haku. That's why he employed more clones than what was necessary. By the time, though, his clones were in battle, Naruto was starting to feel slightly tired. The effects of using a non-mastered jutsu in the battlefield was getting to him.

With his eyelids getting slightly heavy, Naruto blinked twice before charging in to support the clones that were already doing battle with the numerous versions of Haku. He made sure to keep his eye on Sasuke, who was trying to get a couple of kill shots when the chance opened up.

Luckily, or unluckily for Sasuke, Haku seemed to be more than capable at dodging her and Naruto's clones' attacks. Naruto's enemy was even capable enough to destroy two of his nine clones with well-placed stabs with Haku's signature weapon.

Poof! Poof! Poof!

The blond's eyes widened as he saw his clones start to disappear, one by one. As hard as they fought, they couldn't match the skill of Haku. With his teeth gritted, Naruto planted his feet and was preparing to unleash another one of the jutsu from of the forbidden scroll. Just before his hands began the ritualistic movement, his eyes caught Shikamaru's and Ino's.

_'Shit! They're watching me. I can't go all out with them watching.'_

Konaha, his home, is still _his _enemy. It always will be, and if he were to reveal his true strength to his enemy, then they can find a way to counter act it, or at least be prepared for it. Naruto's thinking caused him to falter slightly, and it created the opportunity for a Haku to strike.

Before the blond knew it, a bundle of senbōn needles were closing in on him, and he could do nothing about it. His clones were either too busy fighting Haku's clones to help, or were too far away to use as meat-shields. There were no options left to Naruto other than take the attack full on. He couldn't dodge, the needles were way too fast for that, and he couldn't preform a defense jutsu for the same reason. The only thing he could do was close his eyes, and wait for the inevitable.

Naruto was fucked, royally.

For what seemed like the longest time in his life, Naruto stood, waiting. He was waiting for the pathetic end to his existence. For the poor end of his ideals, goals, dreams, and his own being. His emotions were oddly mixed. He certainly didn't want to die, but he sensed that it would be a relief to have it all end for him. If it did, there would be no name calling and hatred. In fact, if his life ended when he had really wanted it to, he would have never been subjected to such abuse. He would have never undergone the rigorous training and hopeful triumph of finally becoming a ninja. He would have never extinguished the life of Mizuki. Naruto slightly smirked at that. Yes, he was the one to end Mizuki and save the village, and the irony is that the village still treats him like the villain.

Naruto paused. This was way too much time. He should have been dead already. He opened his eyes, almost quizzically, to see what was taking so long. When he did, his eyes grew and his pupil dilated.

There, with needles embedded in her, was Sasuke in front of him. She had saved him.

"W-why are you stil-" Sasuke coughed, "standing there, idiot?"

She was bloody and ragged, but she still had the sense of superiority as she took the unbearable pain of the needles. She was hunching over, and her breath was as ragged as can be. Naruto could tell she is barely conscious.

Gasps and shouts of dismay came from Ino and Sakura, who were still watching over Tazuna. Hinata, who was still sitting where she had fallen in battle earlier, was covering her eyes, unwilling to see the pain her comrade was in.

Naruto was nonplussed. He couldn't comprehend why she, _Sasuke Uchiha,_ would put herself in danger to save him. He certainly wouldn't have done the same to her. He would have let her die because that's the way of the ninja. A ninja has to be emotionless, cold. His cell are only his professional colleagues. A ninja's teammates are only useful as meat shields or distractions. It seemed that Sasuke didn't think along the same lines as him as to what a team member means.

"Why?"

The question escaped Naruto's lips as his eyes were still fixed on the injured body of the Uchiha Heiress. The question was faint, and there was a spark of emotion to it as well as a deep longing to know.

"D-Didn't you l-" Sasuke clenched her jaw to deafen the cry of pain that almost escaped her lips, "listen to Kakashi-s-sensei."

The blond's fists tightened Kakashi-sensei and their team exercise. She protected him because he was part of the team, her team.

**"Hahaha and you can't even bring yourself to return the favor."**

Naruto's jaw clenched as time froze for him. He knew it was bound to show up somewhere. Naruto knew that the demon couldn't resist not involving itself in his life.

"Shut it, you damn fox." He mumbled under his breath. Naruto bowed his head and closed his eyes. It was at that time that Sasuke's body gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

**"Why should I stay quiet? It wasn't me that couldn't protect your teammates. It wasn't me that was too weak to handle Haku alone. Now look at you. You have caused the death of the only one who could understand you."**

"I said shut up!" Naruto growled as he opened his eyes, no longer standing on the bridge, but in his familiar, dark and depressing mindscape. He was facing the monster that lived inside the gates, sealed away inside Naruto without his permission.

He stared down the fox demon, and finally the silence was broken by laughter, but it wasn't Naruto's.

**"Are you angry? Do you feel angry, weak, defeated? Does it make you feel angry that you are the sole reason of her death? Or," **The fox paused to look at him mockingly, **"Are you angry that you couldn't have saved her?"**

"What does it matter to you?" Naruto shot back angrily, "You are just an animal stuck in a cage. You don't care about me; all you care about is finding a way to get free to destroy everything."

The Kyuubi looked at him for a long time before it spoke.

**"You are incredibly weak, brat. If I were at full power, a mere bat of my eyelash would have killed you, and your family. Do not talk to me with such disrespect! I am the one that has the power, you are nothing without me! I made you who you are now!"**

Naruto's eyes narrowed angrily at the beast, almost as if the very mention of his family caused his heart to grow colder and his veins to pop. He clenched his fists so hard that it began to hurt, and he felt the immense killing intent that the fox was emanating. Naruto knew that at the level he is right now, he couldn't have a hope in the world of standing against it, but he didn't like being put in his place.

**"Now, hopefully you see why you need to release me. Your stubbornness on that matter has gotten a very important ally into danger. Let me out, Naruto, and I can destroy everything that you hate. With me out, no one will hurt you again, and you wouldn't be to blame for my actions."**

"No."

That was final. Naruto will not have the fox released just so it can do what he always wanted to do. He wanted to be the one who ended the village that ostracized him, abandoned him, and mistreated him. His eyes burned with the desire to see it come about through his own deeds, and he wasn't about to let a demon wreck the dream-like satisfaction of completing his goal. Plus, he is going to need the fox trapped. Naruto, ever since meeting the Kyuubi, has tried to figure out a way to control it. He dreamt of the day where he could harness the demon's powers and use it as his own.

But, Naruto knew that he might not be able to control the Kyuubi. And if Naruto couldn't control it, preventing it from being released out into the world was the second best option.

The fox looked like it wanted to squash the blond as it gave a look of rage. Suddenly, Naruto felt a slight rumble as a growl escaped from the demon's lips. It reverberated and Naruto and he felt the energy produced by it push against him.

**"You little- do you know what I can accomplish? The people I can obliterate? You are just a single-minded, ignorant brat! You do-"**

"Are you going to talk all day, or are you actually going to help me?" Naruto cut in, annoyed at the demon inside of him. While the blond was indeed scared of it, he knew that he had the leverage over it. He could make it do anything he wants it to, and that meant that if it was possible to incorporate the use of its chakra, he might overcome any foe in his path.

**"Humph,"** The Kyuubi snorted at him, **"Why should I help you?"**

Naruto looked at the Kyuubi. It knew exactly why it should help him. Their lives are tied together, for now.

Not waiting for any confirmation of the fox, Naruto closed his eyes. He waited a bit before opening them, wondering what he might see when he opens them.

Taking a deep breath, and preparing himself for anything, he opened his eyes, but instead of them being his normal blue, they were red.

0o0 **A bit before **0o0

Kakashi was still having a hard time hitting Zabuza. At first, he thought the element of surprise would get him, so he tried a few diversionary tactics, while at the same time moving in for the kill. When he was thwarted at his, he moved to going all out with his Jutsu. He tried to even

summon his dogs to flank and circle him, but his plans were rendered useless when Zabuza showed that he was more than capable with handling nin-dogs.

"Out of party tricks, Kakashi?" Zabuza said menacingly, swinging his cleaver like sword at him while using his other hand to throw kunai in the spot that he forced Kakashi to dodge to.

"No," Kakashi's hand was enveloped in a blue light and smacked the airborne kunai away from him, "I still have some surprises." A smile shone through his mask as he gathered his bearings before making his counter-attack. Kakashi flashed hand signs, and three clones popped into existence.

"Since you were kind enough to use clones, I thought I would return the favor." The original Kakashi said as his clones scattered, trying to find any open spots in Zabuza's defense.

However, Zabuza wasn't the one to just sit there and let him seize an advantage. He rushed one of the clones, taking him out with a swift kick while he assessed how he needs to continue his assault. He could attack the original, but there is no guarantee that he won't take any damage from the clones. The clones, by definition, are inferior to the original, as they can be eliminated with less effort, but there is a chance that he could be hurt by the original.

Decisions, decisions. And Zabuza had to make them fast. The remaining clones charged him and Zabuza swung his sword down on one of them, he thought for sure that it was a hit, but no. The clone dodged, leaving his cleaver like sword embedded into the ground. It was a small setback, a little annoyance. All Zabuza needed to do was pull it out. That was exactly what he was going to do, but the other clone attacked from behind with a kick to the upper back. Zabuza was left with only two choices, let go of his sword temporarily, or face some injury to his spinal column. As soon as Zabuza's hand let go to defend himself, the original clone took hold of the sword and smile, flashing hand signs, he mumbled under his breath so that Zabuza couldn't hear him.

As soon as Zabuza deflected the kick, causing the second clone to launch back to prevent him from disappearing, Zabuza took hold of his sword and pulled, but it remained embedded in the ground. He paused for a slight second and put his other hand on the sword for extra strength and pulled again, and again his sword didn't loosen itself from the stonework. Suddenly, Zabuza felt something snake around his arms, and he looked to see paper with ninja symbols on it.

"This is what we call Binds, Zabuza, they are a special ninja tool pretty much exclusive to the Leaf. You are stuck here, with no way to move."

_'Damnit!?'_ Zabuza looked down at his trapped arm and weapon, trying to pull it out of the ground again.

Poof! Poof!

The clones disappeared and Kakashi came to stand in front of Zabuza.

"When you let go of your sword, I had my clone put an adhesive jutsu on it, making it stick into the stonework. It will take a lot more than you to remove it. There is no use, accept your fate."

Kakashi aimed his palms down again at the ground, and the familiar feeling of static returned. The air turned sharp and a distinct smell of ozone filled the nostrils of everyone near.

"This is the end, **Lightning Blade.**"

Kakashi charged at the trapped man with his hand buzzing and lightning chakra wrapping around it. He aimed for a lethal strike, and was about to achieve it when he felt something strange. It was Chakra, but not just Chakra, it was horribly familiar.

At that moment, Kakashi felt an incredible pulse of the Kyuubi's chakra. His eyes widened, and his head slightly turned toward the source, causing his precisely aimed attack to veer off a bit.

Instead of the lethal strike, it wounded Zabuza. It severely wounded him, and without medical attention, he would surely die.

0o0o0o0

Naruto felt _good._ He felt strong, and he looked at with his crimson eyes. He flexed his muscles and smirked at him menacingly. He could tell things were different from the euphoric feeling of power running through him. He noticed his nails were elongated, and that his teeth were sharpened.

However, he felt in control. Did accepting the Fox's chakra grant him control over it? Naruto's eyes narrowed a bit at that thought. It must have, he never felt so... So _him._

**"Hahahaha," **Naruto laughed. He laughed at how good he felt, and how scared all of the others felt. Yes, he could feel their fear; he can sense their hairs stand on edge and forms quivering from the sudden release and acceptance of the fox's chakra.

Even Kakashi felt fear.

And so did Haku.

And then the cloak came. Orange Chakra enveloped Naruto, and his features became increasingly feral. His eyes sharpened again, and his muscles bulged even more. His mouth looked more like the mouth of a predatory dog and his whiskers darkened. The only thing missing from his animal transformation was a tail.

So there Naruto stood, a menacing monster glowering at his prey, Haku. And then, suddenly, he was gone. In a blink of an eye, Naruto vanished. In an instant, He appeared right in front of Haku, smiling. He raised his hand, open palm, and scratched Haku's face with his elongated nails. Three scratch marks appeared on Haku's left cheek, reminiscent of Naruto's whisker marks.

Naruto didn't do anything else after that. He wanted to stretch his legs with this. He wanted to _play._ He didn't want to end Haku this quickly, though he was certain that he could, he wanted to see the full capabilities of this chakra.

And that's when he felt it. An intense hotness, like his skin was bubbling off. Naruto's crimson eyes widened, and he looked down at his arms.

Much to his surprise they were ACTUALLY bubbling. It hurt. It hurt a lot. More than Naruto thought he could take. In an attempt to make it stop, Naruto cut his arm, hoping that the cut would let the air out of the bubbling skin.

However, all Naruto did was expose the truth of what was happening. Underneath his skin was complete black. Suddenly, all parts of his body started heating up, and his skin burned up. The air around Naruto became windy and dark, shielding the others from seeing what was going on.

The only one who had any remote clue was Kakashi, and he was still frozen in fear, remembering the destruction of the village years ago, and the sacrifice his Sensei made.

Naruto's clothes burst in flame, and so did his skin. Soon, all of it was burned up, and what was left standing was a completely black humanoid, but it wasn't exactly human shaped. It had foxlike ears, and a single tail.

The thing that was Naruto let out a mighty yell and prepared to kill Haku.

Haku, who was standing still, shaking with fear at the _monster_ that was in front of him. Finally gathered his wits about him. Desperate for an escape, he flashed his hand signs as quickly as possible and the all-to-familiar mist descended upon the bridge, giving Haku the cover needed to make his way to Zabuza, and freeze the ground around his sword. Breaking the piece of the ground with it, Haku managed to get Zabuza free from being tethered to the ground. Kakashi was preparing himself in case he would have to take on Naruto, so he didn't notice Haku, and barely recognized when the both of them disappeared from the bridge.

The monster however was still gnashing his black teeth and growling. His prey had disappeared before his eyes had properly adjusted to the mist. What a shame. The monster reared up and noticed that the sword managed to survive the inferno that was his body when Naruto changed. He took it out and looked at it curiously.

Naruto was not in control of his body, the fox's chakra was. The pure bestial energy from it was fighting for control of the body, and it was winning. All Naruto could do was watch.

The mist cleared, and the black monster was revealed to everyone.

Ino and the other Genin gasped and Tazuna fainted.

"What the hell?!" Naruto's demon head turned towards the sounds of gasps and weapons being dropped.

Bandits, Kakashi noticed, and leading them was Gato. Gato had hired bandits. The group of bandits tensed when they saw the monster that was on the bridge.

The Monster that once was Naruto looked at the group and instantly knew what they were. They were prey. They were something that he could hunt and kill. He looked at them, and his mouth formed what looked like a smile as he faced them with Naruto's sword. Before anybody could even think of running, the black monster attacked, rushing the group.

Blood was flying everywhere as the black shape flitted between the group, cutting people in half, dismembering them, and gutting others. If what Zabuza did was a massacre, this was something words couldn't describe.

And it was all available for the Genin to see. But they couldn't handle it. Ino screamed and covered her eyes while Shikamaru turned away, muttering under his breath. Sakura was catatonic. Hinata though, couldn't take her eyes off of it.

_'Naruto-kun?...'_ Hinata thought as she saw this monster killing the bandits. She knew. She had seen what others could not with her bloodline. She knew that this _thing _was Naruto. She couldn't fathom the power he possessed now, and she didn't know whether to be disgusted or mesmerized that Naruto went under such a transformation. Hinata knew.

And Kakashi knew as well. Not only did he know, but it was his responsibility to make sure that his and Kurenai's students didn't. He had to make sure that they didn't see That thing change back to Naruto, if it ever did change.

So, Kakashi walked up to the group of Genin and silently jabbed them in the neck, knocking them unconscious. The last person he knocked out was Hinata, and from the look she gave him, she knew that that _thing_ was Naruto.

After his duties to protect the secrets of the Leaf were done, he turned to tackle the obstacle of dealing with Naruto.

The monster still wasn't done mutilating them with Naruto's sword. The monster was simply a blur; the only thing recognizable was the shape of a humanoid fox.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Note: Hey guys, Shintaro here. I just wanted to apologize for this being EXTREMELY late. I have had barely any contact with my co-author, and I was getting impatient waiting on him to look over the story and to correct the mistakes and add in his share, so I just decided I would finish it. Again I apologize, and I hope you forgive me. This chapter wasn't as long as I had planned, mostly because I cut out the Aftermath I had written for it, and decided it would be a nice start for the next chapter. **

**I really hope I did it decently enough for a rushed job. It's about 9,010 words without the Author's Note, so its a big chapter by our standards. It contains a lot of events happening and I hope I managed to put them together well. The biggest problem was writing it to make Zabuza and Haku live, so I had to think of a way that they could have both survived.**

**I changed the name to Shattered by Power because I thought it fit better with the chapter than the previous title, mostly because we didn't have the scene where the whispers were in. It was a thing my co-author was supposed to write, but he never got around to it.**

**Reviews are GREATLY appreciated, you don't know how happy I am to get them, good or bad. I hope that you will consider reviewing and subscribing to this story if you haven't done so already.**

**Thank you very much for reading my story up to this point, I hope to was enjoyable to you**

**Chapter Question: What do you think will happen to Hinata now that she knows that the Monster is Naruto? What would/should she do about that fact?**


	10. Shattered by Delusions PT1

**Chapter Eight: Shattered by Delusions PT1**

_"Mommy! Mommy!" _

_A slight tug on her clothes made Sakura stir._

_"Come on, Mommy! Daddy bought us a puppy!"_

_The pink haired woman opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. It was plain white, but she could tell that it was familiar and safe. _

_"Mommy, please!" _

_Sakura turned to the source of the voice, a pink-haired, blue-eyed little girl of eight, expressing her child-like frustration at her failed attempts at getting her mother up. _

_Getting up, Sakura took the child's hand and caressed it for a second before looking her in the face. She loved the child more than anything in the world, and every day she showed her love by expressing it through touch._

_The child, however, didn't continue the tender moment. She impatiently tugged her mother's hand to indicate once more that she needed to follow._

_Exiting Sakura's room and entering a hallway which had picture frames all over its walls, the child led the mother to the beautiful living room. The window let in just the right amount of light to show how beautiful the walls and how immaculate the picture frame placement were. _

_"Mommy is up!" Another voice, different from her daughter's, spoke up. Sakura turned to see two young blond boys, at the ages of about 11; coming from the door she thought lead into the kitchen. _

_The two boys smiled at Sakura and immediately ran to hug her. When they let go, the three of them started chattering nervously about the new pet they were about to get. _

_The little girl nervously started to wrinkle the hem of her orange skirt in anticipation, and Sakura began to think about the trouble that this pet would bring. Of course, she was going to be the one to clean up after it, the one to walk it, and the one to train it to obey simple commands. _

_All in a day's work for Sakura, the dutiful mother and wife. _

_After about five minutes of waiting, the locks on the door began to turn, indicating that Sakura's husband had arrived and was about to open the door._

_A small gust of air swept into the house as the door opened revealing an older, more handsome, and masculine version of Naruto Uzumaki._

_"Honey, I'm home!"_

_There was that customary shout of recognition from her precious one._

_The children held their breath, and suddenly, a small, black blur bolted in the house, yipping and trying to get its tiny, pink tongue to lick the children in every part that exposed skin. _

_"His name is Kuro," Naruto exclaimed, proud that he could provide such a caring pet to his very caring family. _

_Sakura, though, made her mouth taut, and her mouth now resembled the thin line of disapproval that the majority of the women married into the Nara clan wore._

_Kuro wasn't a puppy, it was a fox. In fact, it was a black fox. _

_As if her thoughts controlled the atmosphere, the scenery became darker, and the air chilled. _

_"Honey, what's wrong? Don't you like our new member of the family?" Naruto asked, concerned about Sakura's facial expression. _

_Sakura's eyes were on the fox, which was still licking her children, when they flashed towards Naruto's direction._

_"MOMMY, HELP!" _

_The screams of her young alerted the pink-haired ex-shinobi to the fox._

_But, it wasn't cute anymore. Kuro, the hyper and cute fox was shifting into black mass of energy, with gnashing teeth and a humanoid shape. A single tail remained, swirling in the air as it tore one of the boys in half, blood spewing everywhere. _

_The giant, humanoid form was luridly familiar. Its black color sent a chill down Sakura's spine as she realized that this black fox demon had already killed one of her children, and was approaching the other two. _

_She mustered all of her strength to move, but she was stuck, like a statue. No matter how much she wanted to save her precious children, her own fear took hold and planted her firmly in her spot. _

_Tears started to form, and the scenery changed once again. She was on a bridge, alone. _

_But she wasn't completely alone; she was surrounded by the dead. _

_Bodies or parts of them were everywhere, piles upon piles of them. The dried blood staining the stonework seemed all too gruesomely real._

_Wandering through the corpses, there seemed to be no end. _

_**"GRR"**_

_Sakura turned around in haste as the growling seemed to have come from right behind her. _

_And there it was, the demon, the one that killed her children and the very same one that must have killed all of these people. It charged at her, and Sakura turned and started to run._

_She could feel it gaining on her as she tripped and stumbled over the mangled piles of flesh. She could feel its breath on the back of her neck._

_Sakura didn't dare to turn around to look behind. _

_0o0o0o0_

Sakura's bed was damp with sweat when she suddenly shot out of bed. She carefully scanned the room around her for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Her eyes caught the clock.

She has woken two hours earlier than she should have. Rubbing the drowsiness out of her eyes, Sakura stumbled into the hall to get a fresh blanket, and new sheets. She carefully and quietly moved around her house, consciously trying to not wake up her parents.

She tip-toed back to her bedroom with the some new bedding and decided to get some breakfast while she was up.

Heading into the kitchen, she avoided looking into the mirror, and set her goal flatly on getting some cereal.

She opened the cabinets, but frowned slightly when she couldn't find anything she had set her heart on.

_'I'm pretty sure that Mom put some in the pantry.'_

With an exasperated sigh, Sakura tip-toed around her kitchen counter, careful not to touch anything, to the pantry door.

When she stood in front of it, she hesitated before reaching out to slide the door open. Her arms tensed slightly, preparing for any surprise attacks.

Once her eyes adjusted to the little light she turned on to see in the pantry, she had found her cereal, and was just about to close the door when...

KSSSHHHHHH!

Several jars of spices fell and shattered, splattering the contents all over the floor.

"Damn!" Sakura hissed, and she heard footsteps starting to head down the stairs towards the kitchen.

The kitchen lights turned on, revealing the Sakura's mother and father, standing in the door way, wearing nothing but their night clothes.

"Sakura!" The mother exclaimed with slight relief, putting away the broom she had picked up.

"Do you know what time it is, young lady?" The father said sternly, wondering why his daughter was up at three O'clock in the morning.

Sakura lowered her head, hoping they didn't see the embarrassing pink that colored her face.

How could she face her parents? How could she possibly tell them that her mission to the wave had caused her to miss hours of sleep? She knew how they would react if she had told them the truth.

No more being a ninja, no more Princess Four for Sakura if her parents knew what had happened.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to get something to eat, and suddenly..." Sakura stepped aside, revealing the source of the sound that reverberated in the house moments before.

The situation was obvious enough to the parents that they didn't need Sakura to explain it to them. They hurriedly got the broom and dust-pan. Sakura's mother swept the glass while Sakura's father took inventory of the pantry, making sure that he had enough money from his merchant stands to cover the semi-expensive spices that were soiled.

After that early morning fiasco, Sakura was sent back to bed by her parents. Sakura closed her door, but not before making sure that everything in the room was _exactly_ as she had left it.

After telling herself that everything was fine, Sakura walked to her bed, and decided she would try to sleep.

However, as soon as she lay down, she knew she wouldn't be able to. She had too much to think about.

That scared her. Sakura didn't want to think lest she think about recent events. It had been two days since she had been back in Konoha, and she had spent the majority of her time busying herself.

Sakura was trying to make sure she didn't think about the fact that she had taken her first life.

Her face paled as she finally succumbed to the inevitable, and she thought about the experience of killing on her first real mission.

It was an accident; she certainly didn't mean to kill that man. She didn't mean to extinguish his very being with a couple of shuriken and kunai.

The pink-haired girl's body began to quiver as she relived that moment of her life. The quickness of death and the horrible revelation afterwards that didn't quite hit until now. It was strange and frightening because she didn't know it _could be_ that easy. She had imagined her first kill to be something she would have a hard time doing, but it wasn't.

It was so easy for her, and that scared Sakura. It scared her because she didn't want it to be that easy. She couldn't give back the life she had taken, and it was plaguing her with bad dreams.

_'But last night's dream wasn't about that...' _Sakura thought as she shivered uncontrollably every time she thought of that beast that stalked her in the massive grave of bodies.

Shifting her body to the other side of the bed to stare at the clock on her bed-side drawer. As soon as Sakura saw the clock, her face fell, it hadn't even been five minutes since she was ushered into her room by her parents.

Sakura tried once more, in a vain attempt, to go to sleep, but it was ultimately futile.

0o0o0o0

Naruto's eyes opened and he looked out his window. He had just finished his meditation and was about to stretch when his eyes caught what looked like to be a shadow. At first, he didn't really notice it, but then his eyes did a double take and it was gone.

He turned from the window and began to stretch.

_'Could be just my imagination...'_

Naruto bent down to touch his toes, his breath measured.

_'But I don't think so. Someone was up there. The place had a perfect view of my apartment. Could they be up there for me? Why?'_

The answer was obvious as soon as Naruto got up and put his arm over his head, bent to his back.

_'Because of the fox inside of me.'_

He thought about that more the rest of the time he spent stretching, wondering who it was that was up there. The size of the shadow didn't look like it came from anybody around Naruto's age. It was taller, and it moved fast enough to get out of his sight on a double take. That takes some amount of skill.

Skill that only an above average ninja would have.

A yip pulled Naruto from his thoughts back into reality. Kit was making it known that he was hungry, and it didn't seem like he wanted to wait for Naruto's deductions. Naruto moved to the kitchen, avoiding looking at the window again, lest that shadow still be around. It might get tipped off that he knows about it.

He opened his fridge and wrinkled his nose at the sour smell of milk. He had forgotten that he had left it there to spoil during the mission to the Wave.

His eyes widened in realization, _'The mission to the Wave! That's it! It must be watching me because of what happened.'_

It seemed to make sense, he wasn't watched before then, but he suddenly was now. That means that somebody saw him. Someone had known that he had become that black fox humanoid.

He plugged his nose with his left hand and reached for the eggs in his fridge. Like the milk, they were spoiled, but he didn't think Kit would mind that much that it was spoiled.

He was wrong.

The instant that Naruto had set down the two plates (he had elected that Kit should have both of the chilled eggs), Kit had begun to lap them up into his mouth.

A gagging sound came out of Kit's mouth and the black fox stared up at Naruto with an indignant stare.

"That's all we've got. The fridge must have broken down while we were away."

"Grrrr!" Kit began, pushing away the bowl as he kept staring at Naruto.

"Well, what can I do? The Hokage's allowance didn't last as long as I thought it did, and we went on a mission for free, so we have no money."

Naruto was beginning to regret making that decision to go to the Wave. Not only did it cause him a lot of trouble, but he had no compensation for it.

Kit wouldn't have any of that though, he looked at the two plates on the ground, turned away and looked at an empty Ryo's Ramen package. Yipping to make sure Naruto had received the message; Kit walked to the front door and began pawing at it.

Sighing, Naruto walked over to his counter, ruffled through some of the stuff, and found his keys. He looked at Kit with a resigned look. Naruto opened the door with his keys, stepped to the side to let Kit through and hesitated before he stepped through the exit.

A feeling of dread washed over Naruto as he realized that this would be the first time he would be leaving the apartment since he had gotten back from the Wave. The blond didn't enjoy leaving the apartment, and whenever he did, he would be the subject of nasty looks and hushed whispers. He closed his eyes for a moment, reigning in the dread, and stepped out the door.

Naruto closed the door behind him, and made sure to lock it. He double checked to make sure it was locked before turning and walking slowly down the stairs and onto the streets of Konoha, Kit scampering happily along.

True to his predictions, as soon as Naruto set foot on the streets of Konoha, the villagers turned their focus immediately onto him. The suddenness of the villagers gaze caused him to pause. It shouldn't have, he should be used to the hostility. With all eyes on him, Naruto lowered his head, created a fist, and started walking.

"It's him-"

"Shh!"

"He might hear us!"

Naruto kept walking. When he was in the Wave, he could walk around the streets without all of the negative attention. At first, it was eerie, but, as Naruto kept walking, it became a blessing. He finally knew what it was like to not be hated by the vast majority of those around him. Now that he is back, it would have been foolish for him to expect anything different from the hateful place he had left.

"It's a shame he came back..."

Naruto winced at that remark.

For as long as he could remember, Naruto had been hated. One would think that after so many years he would get used to the stares and comments, Naruto certainly thought he was. However, that remark had cut him. As much as he knew that it was to be expected, it still stung.

_'After all I had done...'_ Naruto thought angrily.

Naruto had trained hard to become a shinobi. It was for selfish reasons, but the villagers didn't know that. Even if they suspected, they had no good reason to. On his mission to the Wave, Naruto had risked his life to make sure they got through that mission on top. That too was for a selfish reason, but he could have easily just half-assed it like he did at the Ninja Academy.

His hands balled into fists and he squeezed.

It would have been nice to get some recognition for making the mission a success.

Too absorbed in his thoughts, Naruto had run into somebody. He couldn't fathom how the villager didn't notice him. The blond was always being observed with the most suspicious eyes, and it wasn't like the villagers around him were making keeping their loathing and his identity a secret.

Naruto gazed up at the villager. The man had to be about 6'7'', 254 pounds. Light brown hair with hazel eyes. The villager didn't look surprised to see that Naruto had bumped into him. In fact, it seemed that he should have expected him to, considering that the villager appeared to have been walking straight into Naruto himself.

The blond narrowed his eyes; the villager let Naruto bump into him on purpose. He must have. There was no other way it could have been.

Naruto's nostrils flared briefly. The instant they did, the smell of cheap alcohol entered and made it clear what the blond was dealing with, a drunkard.

The situation was clear, the man had bumped into Naruto purposefully and, like any old song and dance, Naruto could predict with some degree of accuracy what was going to happen next.

"Hey everybody," the drunkard slurred violently as waved his arms to get everyone's attention, "Dis brat bumped into me!"

All eyes turned towards the unfolding situation.

"Apologize!" The drunkard slurred at him, long enough for the gathering crowd around them to hear. Hushed whispers started up again when, after a few minutes, Naruto hadn't said a single thing. The blond just looked at the ground, glaring daggers at his feet.

An apology, though, was not what this booze hound wanted. He wanted to make a scene in front of everybody. Kit, who was behind Naruto growled at the villager, making his feelings known.

The drunkard's eyes shot daggers at Kit. For a second, Naruto tensed, fearing that the alcohol in this man's system would egg him on into attacking the black fox.

Drunken laughter reached Naruto's ears, causing the blond's fingers to dig into his palm.

"Look, the brat's minion is growling at me!"

Naruto Uzumaki glared venomously at the man, causing the drunk's face to change rapidly to slight fear. The drunk froze immediately. The man started to chuckle again, but it wasn't the goading laughter earlier, instead it was almost uncertain.

Something had changed, Naruto noted. In the past, the drunks were never scared of Naruto, or at least not enough to stop dead in their tracks as this one did. After a few moments, a smile crept up on Naruto's face.

In the past, Naruto wasn't a ninja, he couldn't properly defend himself.

That's what had changed. It wasn't the glare that stopped the man in his tracks; it was the promise of violence behind it.

This man _feared_ Naruto.

Bravely, confidently, Naruto stepped forward keeping his gaze focused on the man.

The drunk stumbled back, trying to keep the distance between him and Naruto constant. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Whoa, Whoa, I was just kidding."

But Naruto paid no attention, his hand instinctively reached for a kunai as he kept his pace.

Noticing the blond reach into his kunai pouch, the drunk's eyes widened, and he stumbled back in surprise, falling back onto the ground.

"No, please... I swear... I won't do it again!"

Again, Naruto paid no mind as a small smirk remained on his face. The blond's eyes flashed towards the crowd. They were silent, anxiously waiting for him to make the next move.

Naruto's smile deepened. He could finally show them that he was not to be messed with. He could finally show the village that there _will _be consequences for what they do to him.

The blond twirled the kunai menacingly with his index finger while he silently pondered which part of the body would cause the most amount of pain for a man that has consumed alcohol.

_'How about the throat? That'll certainly shut him up.'_

Naruto's grin deepened even more than he thought possible.

That would be acceptable.

A soft whisper tempted him, _**"Do it... Do it..."**_

_'Yes,'_ Naruto thought, _'I will.'_

Like a man entranced, Naruto prepared to aim and throw his kunai.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Note: Hey guys, Shintaro here, long ass wait, huh? Sorry about that. I had to deal with some stuff. Now, I know you do not need my excuses, but I owe you an explanation as to why this is only "Part one." Well, the answer is this: I am not fully confident in the New Arc I have devised, and if I were to have continued on with the chapter, I would risk sinking myself deeper into a pitfall should my idea fall apart. I need to converse with Ronin to make sure he and I are fully willing to commit to the idea and the possible aftermath of it (Its getting increasingly harder to contact my co-author by the way, seeing as he is now only available on Sundays, but I started this particular story with him, and I intend to finish the story with him.)  
><strong>

**Did you just read the words 'New Arc'? Why yes, yes you did. It's time for this fic to step out of Canon (If only for a little bit), and start heading down the path that was it was planned to go down nearly to summers ago. This chapter is short, and while it isn't much, I hope that it provides you with some insight as well as believable character portrayals. **

**Everyone has their delusions, and I hope you can pick out what they are.**

**Chapter Question 1: **Do you feel as if you can relate to some of the things we have written about the character emotionally? Are we doing a good job with the characters' personalities?****

****Chapter Question 2: Should Naruto do it? Will he?****

****Please Follow, Favorite, and Review.****

**Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a nice Veterans' Day.**

**P.S Thank you Realitync, you are awesome. **


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